Time After Time
by danifrenchkyz
Summary: Double Golden Trio equals Double Trouble. 'The Golden Trio' was not only friends with Draco but also with two other Slytherins throughout the years in Hogwarts. This friendship is unlikely but strangely strong. It is also a story of an unbreakable love between the Slytherin Prince and the Gryffindor Princess. Dramione xoxo
1. Chapter 1- First Year

Author's note: PLEASE READ!

 _So, this is my first time writing Dramione story, so if my writing skills are bad, then I'm sorry. I will say sorry in each chapter for any spelling or grammar mistakes._

 _Okay so just to give you a heads up about my story, I made some changes:_

 _1- First, instead of Hemione being born in September 1979 she's born in 1980 so that Draco is three months older than her._

 _2- Draco has a soft heart in this story. He's still a mean Slytherin Prince in front of the rest of the Slytherins, but not in front of his real friends._

 _There might be some more changes but I'll put it on the author's note before the chapter so please read it._

 _Okay so this is the first chapter and I've already written some of the other chapters. But you'll have to wait for a month or so for the next one because next week I'll be very busy with school work so I'm sorry for a long wait._

 _And I don't have a beta since I don't know how that works..._

 _Anyways enjoy the first chapter!_

Disclaimer: Harry Potter does not belong to me but to the lovely J.K. Rowling and my writing skills are not as awesome as hers...

Chapter 1

 _~ First Year ~_

Eleven-year-old Harry Potter walked alone in the pavement of Diagon Alley towards _Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions._ Harry entered the shop feeling nervous. The second he stepped inside, an old woman, known as Madam Malkin, greeted the young boy.

"Hogwarts dear?" she asked and Harry nodded in response. "Got the lot here – another young man being fitted up just now, in fact."

In the back of the shop, a boy with pale, pointed face was standing on a footstool while a second witch pinned up his long black robes. Madam Malkin stood Harry on a stool next to him, slipped a long robe over his head and began to pin it to the right length.

"Hullo," said the boy, "Hogwarts too?"

"Yes," said Harry.

"Are you excited?"

"A bit... I'm more nervous actually,"

"Yeah me too. I don't really want to leave my parents, I mean I've lived with them my whole life, how am I supposed to stay at a school all year?"

Harry was surprised the boy was talking to him. He's never had friends before, so he doesn't know how to react to this.

"Well I'm glad to leave my home, actually," Harry answered and continued when he saw the curiosity in the pale boy's blue eyes, "I'm living with my Uncle and Aunt. I hate them. I would do anything to get away from them."

"Oh..." was the boy's answer.

"Yeah, but unfortunately, I have to go back there during the summer vacation."

"Well if you really want to avoid them during summer vacation, you could always go somewhere else, like maybe a friend's house."

"I don't have any friends and I don't know anyone that goes to Hogwarts," Harry responded, trailing his eyes on the ground.

"Well, you know me. Maybe we can be friends, we can see each other again in Hogwarts."

"Really? Sure, thanks!" Harry smiled at the boy. The another one returned the smile and opened his mouth to say something else but was interrupted by a knock on the front window. "That's Hagrid. I probably should get going now. It was nice meeting you, I guess I'll see you at Hogwarts."

"Yeah... I'll see you in Hogwarts..." the blond boy said slowly and as clearly as possible while looking at Hagrid in awe. Never in his life, he saw someone so big and it amazed him.

Harry went to the front of the store and thanked Madam Malkin for his robes and exited the shop to join Hagrid. It was only later that both boys found out that they didn't even give their names to each other, but they didn't mind it since they knew they will meet again when school starts.

\- Hogwarts -

ProfessorMcGonagall left the children outside the Great Hall and they waited outside to be sorted.

"Is it true then? That Harry Potter is in Hogwarts?" a boy asked.

Harry turned around and saw it was the pale boy that he saw in Madam Malkin's shop. At first, he was happy to see him again, but Harry saw that there was something different about him. He doesn't seem as friendly as he was when he first saw him. There's a look of arrogance in his eyes now.

"Name's Malfoy," he said. Ron, Harry's new friend snorted at the name and the pale boy glared at him, "Think my name's funny, do you? I don't need to ask yours, red hair and a hand me down robe. You must be a Weasley. You'll soon find out that some wizarding families are better than others, Potter. You don't want to go make friends with the wrong sort. I can help you there." He stuck a hand out for Harry to shake.

"I think I can tell the wrong sort for myself, thanks," Harry answered, ignoring Malfoy's hand.

Professor McGonagall came back and ushered the first years inside the Great Hall. Once they were sorted they sat with their houses and waited for the food. Harry, Ron and Hermione were sorted into Gryffindor while Draco Malfoy was sorted into Slytherin.

Draco looked at the Gryffindor table where the trio ate. _'I guess he found new friends now_ , _'_ he thought. ' _I thought we could be friends. Father is going to get mad, he told me to befriend Harry Potter and I failed. Was I too harsh? Did I talk too badly? Father said not to be friendly with him... but also be friends with him... I don't understand father sometimes...'_

Then something caught his eyes. It was that big, bushy, golden hair of Hermione Granger.

"Have you seen her hair? No, that's not hair, it's a bird's nest!" a fat boy, Goyle, said laughing while pointing at Hermione.

Draco glared slightly at him but didn't say anything. He turned back his attention to the trio, _'I think her hair is pretty. I think she's pretty...'_

Too lost in his thoughts, he didn't notice Hermione staring back at him. When he finally figured out that her golden eyes were staring back at his silver ones, he jumped a bit and focused his eyes on his plates. He kept his head down hoping that she didn't notice him blushing.

Hermione narrowed her eyes on the blond boy. "He wasn't that nice to you guys," she said to Harry and Ron.

"Who?" asked Ron, with full of chicken in his mouth.

"That Draco Malfoy guy,"

"Oh, that's normal. He's a pureblood."

"But you're a pureblood too!"

"He's from a rich family! So, it's normal for him to act all mighty and all that. Rich purebloods think that they're on top and they tend to disrespect those who they think are below them especially muggles and muggleborns."

"That's stupid!" Hermione half shouted but made sure that only the boys can see her anger. _'Will he be mean to me? Too bad, he looks quite cute...'_

"But he wasn't like that," intervened Harry.

"What do you mean?"

"I met him before coming here, in Diagon Alley. We talked a bit and he seemed nice then. He said we could be friends and meet in Hogwarts. I thought he was my first friend but I never knew he was mean. I guess I was wrong about him."

"Malfoy?" asked Ron, after finally swallowing the piece of chicken. "I would do anything to see him act nice! His family might be rich, but they don't have a reputation of being nice people. I mean they were part of the Death Eaters."

"The what?"

"Death Eaters are people who follow You-Know-Who," Hermione explained to the raven-haired boy.

"Yup. His aunt, uncle and father were or still are..."

"But his aunt and uncle were sent to Azkaban, the wizarding prison, when _he_ vanished but Draco's dad didn't." interrupted Hermione.

"Then why does he want to be friends with me when his father is following the man who wanted to kill me?" asked Harry.

The other two shrugged their shoulders and returned to their food. For the rest of the night, the trio didn't talk about the Malfoys or about You-Know-Who but just ask questions to more about each other.

Months passed and now it's Halloween. The trio became really close and considered each other best friends. It was harder for Ron and Hermione to become close at first because they keep on arguing but now, nobody can ruin their friendship. They have built a very strong relationship and the two boys loved Hermione like she was their own sister. They feel very protective towards her and defended her when Slytherins would send cruel remarks to her for being a muggle born. They would glare at them all the time when they pass each other in the hallways. Surprisingly, they never heard Malfoy say anything mean to her, but they did see him glare at them, laugh at them or snickered when they pass each other. Ron hates Malfoy because of his name but the other two can't seem to hate him. Dislike, sure but not hate.

Since it's Halloween, Dumbledore gave the students a big feast with lots of candies on the table. Hermione was really tempted by the candies. Her parents are both dentists so she didn't really get a lot of candies during her childhood. But today she made an exception because, first, her parents weren't there and, second, it's Halloween.

"I have to go to the girl's bathroom," Hermione stood up, "and Harry please make sure _Ronald_ doesn't touch my sweets," she emphasized on Ron's name while narrowing her eyes at him.

"Don't worry 'Mione I will," the raven-haired promised while Ron gave her a toothy grin.

' _Mione_ was the two boy's nickname for her but she only allows them to use it and glares at those who try.

Some moments later Professor Quirrell came running through the door, "TROLL! TROLL IN THE DUNGUNS! I THOUGHT YOU OUTTA KNOW!" he screamed and fainted on the floor.

All the nightmares that Draco had about trolls when he was young, came back to him. He started panicking with the other students and ran as fast as he could out of the Great Hall. Dumbledore shouted and told the Prefects to calmly and quickly take everyone back to their rooms.

Draco was about to follow the rest of the Slytherins when he remembered someone.

' _Wait. Granger went to the girl's bathroom, so she doesn't know about the troll_.' He thought. ' _Urgh! I'm supposed to be a Slytherin, not a bloody Gryffindor! I'm not supposed to go rescuing people! But I suppose it won't kill me if I do...'_

Draco left his group and ran towards the bathroom. That's when he heard it, Hermione's scream.

"Help!" she screamed. She saw Draco enter the room and was grateful that he was there, "Draco! Please help me!"

Draco saw her hiding under a sink. ' _She called me by my first name',_ he blushed. ' _Shut up and think of a spell!'_ The first spell that came to his mind was the one he learnt with Professor Flitwick earlier that they.

"Wingardium Leviosa!" he levitated the troll's weapon and let it fall on his head. The troll fell to the ground with a loud thud. Hermione quickly left her hiding spot and hugged Draco for dear life.

"Hermione!" Her two best friend shouted who just arrived the place.

"What's he doing here?" Ron asked.

She let go of Draco but still held tightly onto his hand, "He saved me..."

The two boys quirked an eyebrow and looked at Draco who was looking at the floor trying to hide his blushing face. Ron was oblivious of his face but Harry saw it and he smirked at the blond.

"Are you okay, 'Mione?" Harry asked, touching her shoulder and she nodded. "Well I think that we were late so if you didn't come, Malfoy, I don't know what would have happened to Hermione. So, thank you." He held a hand out to Draco.

Draco looked at his hand and when he knew that his face wasn't as red as a tomato anymore, he took it with his free one and shook it, "No problem, Potter."

"Ah!" they turned around and saw Professor McGonagall by the door looking at the troll. "What are you doing here? We told you to go back to your dormitories!"

"I'm sorry Professor, but I was in the bathroom and I didn't know about the troll and Malfoy..."

"We... Potter, Weasley and I knew where she was so we wanted to come and tell her but the troll came in so we had to do something to help her," the two boys looked at Draco like he grew two more heads. ' _We didn't do anything'_ was what they were thinking.

"Is that so? Well then, I guess I should reward each three of you 10 points for helping a fellow student. You should go now. And Potter, you should sleep as much as you can. There's a team to beat tomorrow." She said winking at Harry when they passed her.

The four of them walked quietly together. They stopped at the stair case where they had to go different ways. Hermione and Draco, who forgot that their hands were still entwined with each other's, quickly dropped them and turned around.

"Th-thanks again, Dra- Malfoy. I don't what would have happened to me if you didn't come."

"Whatever, I was also in the boy's bathroom anyway..." he lied hoping that she would fall for it. But Hemione knew that he was lying.

"Well, thanks anyway... I- I guess I'll see you around..." Draco didn't answer but just waved slightly a hand and walk down the stairs.

The trio silently walked up the stairs towards the Gryffindor common room and it was Ron who broke the silence, "Well I guess he isn't _that_ bad..."

"Yeah... I guess he's not..." smiled Hermione.

Draco looked back at the trio but mainly at Hermione Granger. A true smile formed his lips. He looked at the hand that she held and he started to blush _again_.

' _Well, I guess this is what you call: the first crush.'_

A/N: Okay, so the first chap was done! How was it? Please Follow/Favorite and Review!

See you next time!


	2. Chapter 2- Second Year Part 1

**Disclaimer:** _I do not own Harry Potter, just the plot. And I love J.K. Rowling!_

 _ **Enjoy!**_

 **Chapter 2**

 _~ Second Year Part 1 ~_

The trio is now back for their second year in Hogwarts. After last year's events, people have been calling them 'The Golden Trio' and they have become very famous among the rest of the students, especially Harry.

At the end of the year, the three friends didn't want to separate because they knew that they wouldn't be seeing each other for 2 months. Ron and Hermione also didn't want to let Harry go back to his Uncle's house because they knew how bad he was treated there. But at the end, the three of them went to their own houses to spend summer vacation with their family and they promised each other that they would write letters.

Now finally, they're back together for their Second Year at Hogwarts.

Hermione thought that she has forgotten about her little crush towards Draco during the vacation since she didn't see him for two months. But, oh, she was so wrong. She used her very bushy hair to hide her obvious blush every time their eyes meet and try to calm down her thumping heart. Little did she know that the blond boy was also trying to hide his crush towards the beautiful witch.

Hermione ran away from the Quidditch pitch as fast as she could. She could feel warm tears running down her face. She arrived in the Gryffindor Common Room and darted towards her room. She threw herself on her bed and cried her heart out. She was heartbroken. _He_ had called her a _mudblood._ It hurt her to hear it coming from him. She knew that Slytherins hated her for being a muggle born and for being so smart, but she has never heard Draco say anything bad about her from his mouth. Hearing it from him hurt her a thousand more than hearing it from others.

Hermione's cries died out a while later. She stayed in her bed looking at the window, trying to stop new tears from coming out. Some minutes later she heard her room door open and felt someone sitting on her bed.

"'Mione are you okay?" she heard Harry asking her.

"I told you he wasn't a nice person,"

"Not helping Ron!" the raven-haired hissed at his friend.

Ron simply shrugged and bent down to be face to face with Hermione, "Look 'Mione, don't worry about it. It doesn't really mean anything anymore. Just because he said that doesn't mean you're lower than him."

"But I am!" Hermione said with a cracked voice.

"Of course, not! I mean you're a muggle born but you're the smartest witch of our age!"

"Yeah 'Mione. Who cares if they call you names. You still have friends. _Real_ friends. And we'll always stick by you no matter what you are."

"Thanks, guys…"

"Well… Are you feeling better? Because it's time for dinner, and I'm starved!" Ron patted his belly and exited the room. His two other friends just chuckled at him and Hermione shook her head.

"Are you _really_ okay?" Harry asked with a concerned look.

"Yeah, I'll be fine. It just hurts hearing it from him. I mean you know… hearing it from your crush…"

"Don't worry. If he doesn't feel the same, then it's clearly his lost," Hermione smiled at her best friend. "Come on let's go, I'm also quite hungry."

The trio went down to the Great Hall together with Hermione in the middle and her arms locked with Harry and Ron's. When they entered the dining place they saw people looking at them but they didn't mind it. Hermione sat next to Ginny, who just started her first year and the two boys sat across the girls.

They ate, talked and laugh together and Hermione completely forgot about what happened earlier that day. Before they served the dessert, a school owl came flying inside the room. It stopped in front of Hermione. It had a letter tied to its foot and a white rose on his beak. Hermione took the flower and untied the message.

There was no name on the letter but after reading the two words that were written inside, she had a good guess who it was from. A simple, but lovely ' _I'm sorry_ ' was what written. Hermione blushed and smelled the rose. Her best friends raised an eyebrow at her and she simply shrugged and showed them the letter.

The boys also knew who it was from of course. Harry slightly chuckled while Ron's eyes widen, he couldn't believe what he was seeing. "He's weird, I tell you! Very weird!"

"Oh, stop it, Ronald! And don't go on telling people! I don't want the whole school to know!" Ron just gave her the letter back and muttered something that the rest didn't hear and just continued with his food.

Hermione took a small piece of paper and wrote back her response: ' _Thank you for the beautiful rose. And you are forgiven._ ' She tied it to the owl's foot and it took off after she gave it a treat.

Today was the first Quidditch match of the year and it was Gryffindor vs Slytherin. It's also Draco's first time playing as a seeker. The other students think it's unfair that he got the spot because of his name and money, so they were betting Gryffindor would win this game.

Sometime during the game, one of the bludgers became out of control and somehow started to follow Harry around. It was as if it was bewitched to hurt him. At the end, Harry caught the snitch but broke his arm that became boneless because of Gregory Lockhart, their new Defense Against the Dark Arts teachers who appears to know nothing about the subject. Draco also hurt himself when he fell off his broom and was sent to the hospital wing along with Harry.

At night when Hermione left Harry's hospital bed, she went over to get a glimpse at Draco. She saw that he had already fallen asleep so she put a box of Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans on his desk as well as an anonymous _'Get well soon'_ card.

Some days later the Quidditch accident, Hermione went to the girls' lavatory situated on the first floor of Hogwarts, just above the Great Hall and is more commonly known as Moaning Myrtle's Bathroom which is now the Trio's meeting place. When she entered the place, she heard light sniffles behind one of the toilet door. She knew it wasn't Myrtle because of the ghost wails, not sniffle. Since the door was unlocked, she opened it slowly. What she saw surprised her a bit. There, sitting on the closed toilet bowl was Draco Malfoy, his face in his hands trying to block his tears away.

"Malfoy?" Draco looked up and was surprised to see the auburn-haired girl. He was ashamed that she of all people was the one who found him crying in a _girls'_ bathroom.

He tried to be mean and push her away. He went to the sink and washed his face. "What are you doing here, Granger?" He asked with a cracked voice.

Hermione raised an eyebrow and crossed her arms, "I think _I_ should be asking you that, Malfoy. I mean you _are_ in a _girls'_ bathroom after all." She answered emphasizing on some words.

"Well, I thought nobody comes here since its Moaning Myrtle's Bathroom…"

"Oh… Well since we knew that nobody comes here, it became our meeting place." Her voice softened, a little bit.

Draco looked at her with a puzzled look, "'Our meeting place'?"

"Yeah… Harry, Ron and mine's.'

"And since when did _you three_ get to own a place in Hogwarts?"

"I never said we owned it! I just said it was our meeting place!" she retorted, getting more and more annoyed.

"Whatever…" Draco turned his back on her again and stopped talking, hoping that she will get annoyed and leave him, but she didn't, she stayed there. Sometime later he got warm, he removed his cloak and rolled the sleeves of his dress shirt, forgetting that he was supposed to be hiding something. When he remembered, it was too late, Hermione had already seen the big red wound on his arm covered with dried blood.

"Oh, my god, Draco! What happened?" She asked, concerned while looking at the red mark.

Despite the situation, Draco still blushed because the beautiful witch just called him by his first name for the second time. He slowly took his arm out of Hermione's grasp and looked at the floor. "It's nothing…" he lied.

"Oh, come on! I'm far away from being stupid and both of us know that. _That,_ " pointing at his arm, "is not 'nothing'!"

"I-I just got hurt that's all," he stammered.

"And by what?" she crossed her arms and looked at him pointedly.

Draco knew that he couldn't avoid her or lie to her. He sighed and show her his arm which she took carefully, trying not to touch it, "My father… My father hit me with his walking stick and I got scratched by the snake head, which was the handle."

Hermione's eyes widened, "What? Why?" Hermione knew that his father is a Death Eater but she never thought that he was that bad to hurt his own child.

"He told me that I embarrassed him and that I'm a disappointment to the Malfoy family," he took a deep breath and continued, "just because I failed to catch the snitch."

"What?! That's it?! He said that and did this horrible thing to you just because you didn't catch that small, stupid snitch?" Hermione shouted.

 _'And because I don't have the best scores at school and only second with some points behind you.'_ He thought, but he didn't want to tell her that. "It's not the first time he did this to me. The first time was last year, during Christmas break when I told him that I didn't become Potter's friend."

Hermione took a deep breath and closed her eyes to calm her down, "Wait for me here."

"Wait! Where are you going?"

"Just wait here, I'll be back," she left him alone the bathroom and ran as fast as she could to the Gryffindor Common Room.

When she entered the room she quickly found Harry and Ron in front of the fire playing Wizard's Chess and Ron was clearly winning. "Guys you need to come!"

"Wait Hermione! Let us finish! I'm winning!"

"We're coming Hermione…"

"But..." she looked around and made sure that nobody was looking, "It's about Malfoy" she whispered. This got the boys' attentions.

"What about him?" Ron asked, trying not to look concerned.

"Just follow me!" Hermione turned around and walked quickly back to the first-floor girls' bathroom.

When the trio entered, they found Malfoy sitting on the floor, clutching his arm. He heard their footsteps and when he saw who was in the entrance he glared at the two boys. "What the hell are you two doing here?!" he tried to sound vicious, but the boys' didn't buy it.

"We should be asking _you_ that, Malfoy. What are _you_ doing in a _girls'_ bathroom?" Ron asked the blond wizard snickering, clearly amused to find him in this kind of place.

Draco looked away and stared at the wall in front of him, "It's none of your business…"

"What happened to your arm?" Harry pointed.

"Nothing…" Draco tried to hide his arm but he was too slow. Hermione went in front of him and took his arm and showed it to her friends. She explained what happened and how he got his injuries. After telling the boys everything, their expressions were the same as Hermione's.

"Malfoy…"

"Save it, Potter. I don't need your pity!" he turned around and glared at Hermione, "Why the hell did you tell them!" The witch just shrugged.

"Look, Malfoy. I'm not trying to pity you. I know how you feel…"

"How the hell should you know how I feel?! You don't know anything!" Draco shouted.

"Of course, I know! If you don't remember, I told you before going to Hogwarts that I was living with my wicked Aunt and Uncle. So I know!" Harry was shouting too which shocked his other two friends his they've never seen Harry lose his temper.

Draco's eyes softened and suddenly felt ashamed for shouting at the boy. "Sorry… I- I didn't… Sorry…" he apologized since he didn't know what to say.

"Does he do _that_ to you often?" the red-haired ask the blond, pointing at his arm.

"Um… No, actually. My Father… My father loves his family very much,"

"He has a nice showing his love!" Ron said sarcastically.

"I swear, my father is not a bad guy! I don't know what happened. But he started to change just before I left for Hogwarts. And he started to abuse me last year at Christmas when I told him that I failed to befriend Harry Potter. He slapped me. Since then he didn't touch me until now but he just kept on telling me how I'm a disgrace to Malfoy family and all that."

"I'm sorry." Draco quirked an eyebrow at the redhead, "What? I don't know what to say in this kind of situation. My parents… Well, more my mother actually, can be harsh and scary, like when she sent me a Howler on the first day of school, but she has never hit us. My parents never laid a hand on us."

"Well, then I guess you're lucky?" Draco said it as a question, since, he too, didn't know what to do in this kind of situation. Draco only had two real friends in Slytherin, Theo and Blaise, but he doesn't want to tell them what happened since their fathers are quite close to Lucius Malfoy.

"I need to clean your wound Draco. Take the dry blood off and close your cut." Hermione started to look for her wand but Draco stopped her.

"It's fine. You don't have to." Hermione glared at him.

"Draco Malfoy! If you don't let me tend your cut this instance, then I'll bind you and bring you to Madam Pomfrey and tell her everything!"

"Geez! Fine! No need to shout woman!" the pale boy shoved back his light-toned arm to Hermione. ' _Geez! I think nobody should try to mess with her!_ "

"She doesn't take a no for an answer." Harry smiled sympathetically at the blond.

"Yeah, no kidding!" he answered sarcastically with a roll of his eyes.

The four students were silent. Ron sat down on the floor, clearly annoyed of the silence. "So…" he trailed, "What now?" he looked at Draco, waiting for an answer.

Draco looked back at him, "Don't look at me like that! Just because you found out something about me, doesn't mean we're already best friends!"

"Well, if you want you're always welcome to come back here and hang out with us," Suggested Harry.

"What…" Draco looked at Hermione and saw that she was done with his wound. He quickly stood up and put his robes, "Don't be ridiculous! I'd never come back here! It's a girls' bathroom! And plus, Slytherins can't be friends with Gryffindor!" with that, he stormed to the door of the lavatory but stopped just before he was completely out, "Thanks, Gra- Hermione…" he said quickly and quietly.

The trio heard his last words and smiled slightly. "He'll be back. Not today, but maybe another day." Said Harry.

"Yup!" agreed Ron, "I never thought I could be friends with Malfoy." They all chuckled and thought about the fact that they were going to have a new friend.

As the Golden Trio predicted, Draco Malfoy did come back to Moaning Myrtle's Bathroom. A week after their encounter with the blond, they found him back in their meeting place. They all smiled at each other and to not make things awkward, the Trio instantly sat down on the floor taking Draco with them and began a card game.

Draco looked at the cards with a confused look, "What are those?"

"These are playing cards," explained Harry.

"Why are they not moving?"

"Because they're Muggle cards, Draco." Said Hermione.

"Hermione taught us a game called Go Boom last week and it's fun! You should play with us," said the redhead.

Hermione started serving the right number of cards to the each of them and put the rest of the pack in the middle. She quickly explained the blond boy the rules and how to win. After a try-out round, Draco finally understood how to play. They started their official first round and to their surprise, Draco was the winner.

"BOOM!" he shouted, jumping up and down to celebrate his first victory and they all ended up laughing. The four students played some more rounds until finally, it was time for dinner. The Trio said a quick goodbye to Draco, who promised to come back and see them the next day since it will be Saturday.

While walking towards the Great Hall, Draco couldn't help the smile forming on his face while he thought about how much fun he had with the three Gryffindors. The only time that he laughed as much as he did today is when he's alone with his best friends Blaise Zabini and Theodore Nott. He was still thinking if he would introduce his new friends to them and hope that they all would get along well.

For the next few weeks, the Trio and Malfoy have been spending their spare time together, in their meeting place, talking or playing. Sometimes they would meet at the end of the library, where no one would find them, and do their homework together. Harry and Ron were surprised how smart Draco was until they found out that he was second place of their year just behind Hermione by some points. During the weeks of their meeting, they found out some more things about each other and Draco learned about Hermione, Harry and Ron, about their likes, dislikes, fears and past. They also learned about Draco's past and how his life before was completely different than the one he has now. They kept their friendship a secret because Draco didn't want his father to know and since his father has ways knowing things, they didn't let anyone know about their friendship. The three Gryffindors didn't mind this, in fact, they accepted it since they knew how their friend felt.

 **A/N: And that was it! Tell me what you think! Sorry for any mistakes.**

 **Hope you liked it and please Follow/Favorite and Review. I'll put the next chapter when I can and maybe perhaps when I get more reviews.**

 _-D_


	3. Chapter 3- Second Year Part 2

Disclaimer: _I do not own Harry Potter. The characters and anything that is the same as the book or the movies, all belong to J.K. Rowling._

Chapter 3

 _~ Second Year Part 2 ~_

"Well, well, well. Look who we have here. Weasley and Potter in a girls' bathroom." The Trio turned their heads towards the voice and saw Blaise Zabini and Theodore Nott standing at the entrance of the bathroom.

Ron abruptly stood up and glared at them, "What are you doing here?"

"You don't own this place Weasley so we have the right to come here." Theodore retorted.

"Yeah, well before making fun of us, you should see that the both of you are also in the girls' bathroom." Shot back Ron. Before anybody else could answer, Draco stepped in between the Slytherins and the angry redhead.

"Calm down Ron. They're my friends." Ron's mouth dropped open.

"You're friends? Why did you bring them here?"

"The three of us have been friends since childhood and I just couldn't not tell them about you guys. I was wondering if the three of you could be friends with them too."

"Well, if that's what you want Draco" this time it was Hermione who answered. She got up and walked towards the Slytherins. "Well I know you know me, but I'll introduce myself again. Hello, my name is Hermione Granger. I hope we could be friends." She held her hand out for them to shake.

After the shock, the two boys nicely shook her hand and introduced themselves.

"Blaise Zabini," said the tanned, dark haired boy.

"Theodore Nott," introduced the brown-haired with fair skin boy.

Harry also shook their hands and introduced himself. Ron didn't shake it right away but after a glare from Hermione and a nudge in the stomach from Harry, he finally did. Even though Ron has accepted to befriend a Malfoy, he still wasn't sure if he could be friends with other Slytherins, since he's only heard bad things about them.

"So, this is where you've been all this time? In a girls' bathroom?" Theo asked Draco, trying to hold back a laugh.

"And with the Golden Trio too," added Blaise.

"Yeah well..." Before he could finish, Theo cut Draco off by turning his attention to the Gryffindors.

"You do know that you've been kidnapping our best friend, right? He never stays with us anymore whenever we have a free period."

"Now we understand why he never told us where he's going or who he's with." Finished Blaise.

"Well, we're not going to say that we're sorry because Draco is our friend now too and we're happy to have him here with us. But if it makes you feel better, you can join us too starting from now on," proposed Hermione.

"Sure, thanks." The two boys answered at the same time.

The six of them sat on the floor. Harry and Ron went back to their chess game, Hermione sat at the corner against the wall, giving her attention to her book and Draco joined her, sitting next to her with his own book. The two new additions to the group didn't know what to do and they had a feeling that Draco and Hermione left them with the two Gryffindors on purpose.

Blaise finally took a seat next to Harry while Theo sat next to Ron. The game finished with Ron and Theo winning, of course, and the two shared a high five.

"You're quite good Zabini," Harry told Blaise.

"Thanks, but Ron is way better."

"Oh, he's the best player I've known. Honestly, I don't think anyone can beat him."

"Really? Even Granger can't beat him?"

"I don't know. Hermione never played Wizard's Chess with us, she thinks it's 'barbaric'. She prefers the Muggle ones. But honestly I also sometimes wonder if she can beat him." Chuckled Harry.

"Hey, Potter!"

"Call me Harry if I can call you Theodore."

"Okay, but only if you call me Theo," Harry nodded at the brown haired Slytherin. "So, is it true you can talk to snakes?"

Hermione and Draco stopped reading and walked towards the boys. "It's Parseltongue. That's the language of the snakes."

"Yeah, I know Granger. But you do know that the only Parseltongue was the heir of Slytherin right? What if Harry is the heir of Slytherin?"

"Yeah, I mean even the sorting hat wanted to put him in Slytherin." Piped up Blaise.

"It's just not possible." Hermione said, "If Harry is really the Heir of Slytherin then the hat wouldn't give him a choice. I mean, why would he put the Heir of Slytherin in Gryffindor?"

"Hermione's right. The hat would have never put him in Gryffindor if he knew that he's meant to be in Slytherin." Said Draco.

"But it still doesn't explain why Harry can talk to snakes." Said Ron in confusion, he still couldn't believe that he has a friend that can talk to snakes.

"The only person else that I know who can talk to snakes is You-Know-Who." The boys looked at the girl. They didn't know that and it took them by surprise. The group fell silent and didn't know what to say.

"Uhm... I think we should go. There's going to be a Halloween feast tonight. We shouldn't be late." Harry said, ending the deafening silence.

The Slytherins said a quiet goodbye to the Gryffindors and talked towards the Great Hall. After a few moments, the Trio entered the room and took their seats with the rest of the Gryffindor house.

Months have passed and the six students have become good friends, best friends even. Theo named their group as "The Double Golden Trio". They've become really close, especially Hermione with the Slytherin boys. At the beginning, she was worried that they wouldn't accept her because of her blood status and all that, but after spending a lot of time with each other, she learned a lot about them and them about her. They would still make an act in front of others and pretend that they hate each other. When they had free time, they would spend it in the bathroom or they would go to an isolated part of the library to study and do their homework. To everyone's surprise, Ron and Theo have gotten quite close. They found out that they had a lot in common that it was very weird at first for them, but now they are like a second pair of Fred and George.

Aside from their newborn friendship, things at school were getting weirder. People were being petrified, even Mrs Norris, Filch's cat, without knowing the reason and Harry could hear voices coming from the walls. One day, when they entered the bathroom it was flooded. All the faucets were running and moaning Myrtle was crying in one of the stalls. She explained to them that someone threw a book at her, which made her upset. Harry took the book with him and he found out that it was enchanted. He found out some things about the Chamber of Secrets and a guy named Tom Riddle. The Golden Trio were warned by Dumbledore to not meddle about the secret chamber and, for Hermione, to not search anything about it.

Harry was getting ready for his Quidditch match against the Hufflepuff when they found out that Dumbledore cancelled it and ordered everyone back to their dorms. Harry met up with Ron, Draco, Theo and Blaise and noticed that Hermione wasn't with them. Before he could ask where she was, McGonagall came to him.

"Mr Potter and Mr Weasley, you need to come with me now." She told them.

"Uhm, Professor. Can they also come with us?" Harry asked, looking back at the three Slytherins.

McGonagall gave him a weird look and nodded. She was in a hurry so she didn't ask why. The five boys followed the older witch and she led them to the hospital wing.

"This will be quite a shock," said Professor McGonagall in a surprisingly gentle voice as they entered. "There has been another attack... another double attack." She suddenly stopped and faced the boys, "A sixth-year girl from Ravenclaw and..." she moved aside to show them who was lying on the hospital bed.

"Hermione!" they all groaned and ran to her bed.

Hermione lay utterly still with her eyes open and glassy.

"The two of them were found near the library. There was a small circular mirror near Miss Granger's body, do you have any idea why?" Professor McGonagall asked them. They all shook their head still looking at Hermione. Professor Dumbledore entered the Hospital Wing with the three other Head of House behind him.

"And may I ask what you are doing here?" Snape asked the three boys of his house, lifting an eyebrow.

"We're her friends." Blaise simply answered.

"Oh, really?"

"Yes, really!" Draco hissed at his secret godfather. The only ones who knew about this were his five other friends.

"Calm down Mr Malfoy," suggested Dumbledore.

"Calm down? You want me to calm down? Our friend has just been petrified and lying on the hospital bed and you think I should calm down!" He puffed out.

"Draco, enough. Sit down," ordered Blaise. Draco huffed and took the seat next to Hemione's bed holding her hand. The Professors were surprised by the gesture but didn't question it.

"Do not worry. We are looking for a potion to heal them. We are almost there, just wait a bit and your friend will be fine." Professor McGonagall told Harry and Blaise with a kind voice.

"Thank you, Professor," Blaise saw that McGonagall was going to say something to the surprisingly quiet duo and stopped her. "Uhm, Professor. I know that they are unexpectedly quiet but I think that we should leave Ron and Theo alone for a while. I'm afraid that if we say something now they would blow up like what happened with Draco a while ago."

Harry agreed and so did the other Professors. They talked about Hermione's condition for some time until the Headmaster ordered them to go down to the Great Hall to eat their dinner, he promised to give them the permission to come back after dinner if they did so. They all left the Hospital Wing with a grumpy Draco, Theo and Ron behind them.

During dinner, everybody found out about Hermione. Most of the students were worried about her, especially all the Gryffindors since their Gryffindor Princess was one of the petrified victims. In the other side of the room, in the Slytherin table, Blaise, Theo and Draco were trying their best not to hex anybody. They were hearing things like 'she deserved it', 'I hope that know-it-all never recovers' and things like that. Blaise, being the most composed one was having a hard time calming Draco and Theo after hearing something they didn't like, which was 'I hope the Mudblood will just die already' that came from Pansy Parkinson. They couldn't blow up their cover so Blaise silently bound them to their seat while they glare at their food and stab their chicken. If the situation wasn't so serious, Ron and Harry would have laughed when they looked at their Slytherin friends, but they couldn't since they also had a hard time restraining themselves. If it wasn't for Neville, the room would've had a good show of a Slytherin throwing up slugs.

After dinner, the five boys ran quickly towards the Hospital Wing. They stayed next to Hermione's bed without saying anything. Ron and Theo were pacing back and forth which made Draco snap at them. Draco was holding Hermione's clenched hand on top of her blankets. Leaning closer, he saw that a piece of paper was scrunched inside her fist. Draco pointed this out to the others.

"Try and get it out," Harry whispered to the Blond.

After struggling, Draco finally managed to free the paper from her clenched hand and passed it to Harry. It was a page torn from a very old library book. Harry smoothed it out eagerly and read it out loud quietly.

 _Of many fearsome beasts and monsters that roam our land, there is none more curious or more deadly than the Basilisk, known also as the King of Serpents. This snake, which may reach gigantic size, and live many hundreds of years, is born from a chicken's egg, hatched beneath a toad. Its methods of killing are most wondrous, for aside from its deadly and venomous fangs, the Basilisk has a murderous stare, and all who are fixed with the beam of its eye shall suffer instant death._

And beneath this, a single word had been written, in a hand, Harry recognized as Hermione's. _Pipes_.

"Oh, Merlin's beard," Blaise finally said.

"She's a bloody genius!" exclaimed Theo.

"Yeah! I didn't think about that!" Piped in Ron.

"So, if the Basilisk kills when the people look into its eye then why is it that nobody has died yet?" Draco asked.

"He kills them by looking at them... but no one has died yet – because no one looked it straight in the eye! Colin saw it through his camera. Justin must've seen it through Nearly Headless Nick and since Sir Nicholas is already dead, he can't die again. Hermione and the Ravenclaw girl must've seen it through the mirror and Mrs Norris only saw its reflection from the water in Moaning Myrtle's bathroom."

All their jaws dropped. Hermione is totally a genius for solving it.

"You've got to go tell Dumbledore about this. You and Ron go I'll stay here with Blaise and Theo." Draco suggested. The Gryffindors nodded at their friends and ran towards the Headmaster's office.

Before turning to go to the stairs, they heard hushed voices. They quietly followed where the voices came from. They stayed behind a wall to hide. They saw the teachers gathering around in front of another wall. Harry and Ron stepped closer to get a better look at the wall and saw a writing on it.

 _Her skeleton will lie in the Chamber forever._

Ron looked at Harry but before he could ask anything, Professor McGonagall spoke clearly.

"A student has been taken by the monster. Right into the Chamber itself." They heard a few gasps from other teachers.

"Who is it? Which student?" a teacher asked, whom they recognized as Madame Hooch.

"Ginny Weasley," said Professor McGonagall.

Harry felt Ron slide silently down onto the floor beside him.

"So sorry – I'm late," Lockhart said, walking towards the others, beaming. Harry saw that the teachers were looking at him with something remarkably like hatred. Snape stepped forward.

"Ah, Gilderoy Lockhart! The very man we need," he said with a hint of sarcasm in his voice. "A girl has been snatched by the monster, Lockhart. Taken into the Chamber of Secrets itself. Your moment has come at last."

Lockhart blanched.

"That's right, Gilderoy," chipped in Professor Sprout. "Weren't you saying just last night that you've known all along where the entrance of the Chamber of Secrets is?"

"I – well, I –" spluttered Lockhart.

"Yes, didn't you tell me you were sure you knew what was inside it?" piped up Professor Flitwick.

"We'll leave it to you, then, Gilderoy," said Professor McGonagall. "Tonight will be an excellent time to do it. We'll make sure everyone's out your way. You'll be able to tackle the monster all by yourself. A free rein at last."

"Ve – very well. I'll be in my office, getting – getting ready." And walked away.

"Right," said Professor McGonagall, whose nostrils were flared, "That's got him out under our feet..."

Harry and Ron didn't stay any longer after the departure of Lockhart. Harry helped Ron up and they ran back to the Hospital Wing and opened the door with a loud bang.

"What happened?" Blaise calmly asked them.

"My sister has just been kidnapped. That's what happened!"

"What?!" the Slytherins shouted.

"She was taken into the Chamber," Harry said, panting heavily.

"And you know what? They asked Gilderoy bloody Lockhart to go down the Chamber of Secrets to save her! He'll just get himself killed, or worst my sister!" exclaimed Ron.

"Then go with him," suggested Blaise. "You go with them too Draco. I'll stay here with Hermione and I'll help keep Theo sane. If the Basilisk is the animal that's living down there, I think the only one that can open the Chambers of Secrets is Harry."

"Okay, we'll be back," Draco nodded to his friends and ran with Ron and Harry towards Lockhart's office.

Darkness was falling as they walked down to Lockhart's office. There seemed to be a lot of activity going on inside. They could hear scraping, thumps and hurried footsteps. Harry knocked on the door and there was a sudden silence from inside. Then the door opened the tiniest crack and they saw one of Lockhart's eyes peering through it.

"Oh ... Mr Potter ... Mr Weasley ... Mr Malfoy..." he said, opening the door a bit wider. "I'm rather busy at the moment. If you would be quick..."

Ron pushed the door open and the three students saw that his office had almost been stripped. Two large trunks stood open on the floor, with clothes hastily folded into one of them. Photographs, _his_ important books, paintings and other things were jumbled into the other.

"Are you going somewhere?" Draco asked with a quirked eyebrow.

"Are you trying to run away?" Ron asked less politely and angrily. "What about my sister?" his face was now burning red of anger.

"Well – I – I have been called – urgent meeting you see..."

"You're the Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher!" shouted Harry. "You can't go now! Not with all the dark stuff going on here!"

"Well – nothing in the job description... I didn't expect..." Lockhart muttered.

"Shut up," Draco said pointing his wand at his so-called teacher. " _Expelliarmus!_ " Lockhart was blasted backwards, falling over his trunk. His wand flew high into the air and Ron caught it and flung it out of the open window.

The three boys were pointing their wands at Lockhart who was slightly shivering in fear.

"What do you want me to do?" asked Lockhart weakly. "I don't know where the Chamber of Secrets is. There's nothing I can do."

"Well you're in luck," said Harry. "We think we know where it is and what's inside it. Now, follow us. Let's go."

They marched out of Lockhart's office. Harry led the way to Moaning Myrtle's bathroom with Ron and Draco behind Lockhart with their wands still pointing at him.

Harry looked at the sink where Myrtle died. He and Draco examined every inch of it. Then Harry saw that a tiny snake was scratched on the side of one of the copper taps.

"That tap's never worked," said Myrtle, who just entered the bathroom when Harry tried turning it.

Harry said something in Parseltongue which made the sink begin to move. The pipe was now out of sight and in front of them was a big hole leading somewhere underneath the castle. Harry heard Ron gasp and felt him walked next to him.

"I'm going in," decided Harry.

"We'll all go in."

"But who's going to go fir –" before Harry could finish his question, Lockhart was pushed down the pipe. They heard him scream for a while and a thud when he arrived at the bottom. They looked at Draco who merely shrugged.

"What he was trying to run away," with that he jumped down the pipe too. Harry and Ron followed.

"Woah! We must be miles under the school," said Ron, his voice echoing in the black tunnel.

"Under the lake, probably," said Draco, squinting around at the dark, slimy walls.

" _Lumos!_ " Harry muttered to his wand and it lit again. He led the group again. After a few moments, they found a gigantic snake skin on the floor. There was a sudden movement behind them, and they saw Lockhart on his knees.

"Get up," said Ron sharply.

Lockhart slowly got to his feet then suddenly dived at Ron, knocking him on the ground. He snatched Ron's wand and pointed it at the three of them with a gleaming smile on his face.

"The adventure ends here, boys!" he said. "I'll take a bit of this skin snake back up to school, tell them that I was too late to save the girl and that the three of you lost your minds at the sight of her mangled body. Say goodbye to your memories!"

He raised Ron's wand high over his head and yelled, " _Obliviate!_ "

The wand exploded with the force of a small bomb. Harry cover his head and ran to the other side of the snake skin, out of the way of great chunks of tunnel ceiling which were thundering to the floor. Next moment he was standing alone and saw a solid wall of broken rocks in front of him.

"Draco! Ron!" he shouted. "Are you okay?"

"We're here Harry!" came Ron's muffled voice from behind the rockfall. "We're fine but Draco's hurt and I think the spell rebounded and hit Lockhart instead."

"Okay! Don't move and stay there with Lockhart and Draco! I'll go get Ginny!"

"You okay, mate?" Ron asked his friend while examining his wound.

"Yeah," Draco winced at the pain. When they tried to escape the falling rocks, Draco tripped and a rock fell on his leg.

Ron looked towards the body of Lockhart. "Do you think he's dead?"

Draco used his good leg to give a small kick to the man who groaned. "I guess not," he shrugged.

"Too bad..." Draco scoffed at his friend. "Do you think they're fine? They should be, right? Harry won't let anything happen to my sister, right?" Ron asked worriedly.

"Don't worry Ron. He'll save her. He'll never let her alone in there. She's your family and you're his best friend. They'll be fine." Draco assured him.

After waiting for about an hour or even more, they saw Harry back with Ginny and a bird, no a Phoenix, guiding them.

"Ginny!" Ron ran towards his sister enveloping her in a hug. She hugged him back and continued to cry. "Don't worry Ginny, it's now. You're safe."

The five of them hurried to the hospital wing. Harry levitated their former teacher while he was helping Draco to walk. Ginny was still stuck to Ron and Fawkes was flying above them. When they entered the room, the teachers were already there. They had worried looks on their faces which turned to relief when they saw their four students back and safe. Madam Pomfrey ordered Ron to tuck Ginny in one of the beds while she heals Draco's leg. The teachers lazily helped Lockhart to walk.

"What happened to him?" McGonagall asked, looking disapprovingly at Gilderoy Lockhart.

"He wanted to erase our memories. But we disarmed him earlier and threw his wand out the window, so he took one of our wands. And unluckily for him, the wand he used was Ron's." explained Harry.

"But Ron's wand was broken and I think he forgot so the spell rebounded and hit himself." Added Draco.

After a few moments, the door opened again and Mr and Mrs Weasley ran towards their children. They were hugging them and were glad that they were safe. Professor Dumbledore entered too and stopped in front of Harry.

"Mr Potter and Mr Weasley, please follow me. I need to have a word with you two. Mr Malfoy, you too, but regarding your condition, we'll a talk another time." Harry and Ron followed the Headmaster slightly shaking.

Draco opened his eyes. He figured that he fell asleep after the long night. He turned his head and saw his friends. They were sleeping. Theo was laying on a chair next to Hermione, Ron was next to his sister and Blaise was sleeping in an awkward position on a chair which was in between Hermione and Draco's beds. He noticed that Harry wasn't around and thought that he was still with the Headmaster.

"You're awake." A voice at his right took him by surprise. He was relieved when he saw that it was just his green-eyed friend.

"Yeah. How's your talk with Dumbledore?"

"Great. The three of us received Special Awards for Services to the School and he gave us two hundred points each for our houses. But don't worry Dumbledore silently put your points so that nobody will question how it got there and your award will be kept a secret so that your father won't know."

"Wow..."

"Oh, and it was a good thing that you didn't come with us to Dumbledore's office."

Draco looked at his friend in confusion with an eyebrow raised up.

"Your father was there."

"Oh. And what happened to him."

"Well, nothing much actually. You know the diary that we found, it was Voldemort's." Draco's eyes widened and his friend continued, "and Ginny was the one who threw it in the bathroom. I found out that your father was the one who slipped the diary with her books in Flourish and Blotts."

Draco stayed silent. He didn't know what to say. He was ashamed that it was his dad's fault that his friend's sister was in danger.

"Don't blame yourself, Draco. It wasn't your fault."

"Yeah keep on saying that, it wouldn't change the fact that my own father put us into this mess."

"Yes, it was your father, but it wasn't you so stop blaming yourself. And plus, don't think that I let him off easy." Harry smirked and Draco raised his eyebrow at him again.

"And what the hell did you do this time?"

"Don't worry I didn't hurt him, I can't do that. But I made him lose something."

"Which was?"

"His elf."

Draco's eyes widened. "You made him loose Dobby? Bloody hell!" Draco laughed and Harry joined him. "But I liked that elf. Well, I guess it's better that he's free now. He's a new elf you know, and he's scared of father because when he came it was the time that father started to change."

"Well sorry for losing him but at least you still agree with me that he should be free. Anyways we should wake the guys up. Madam Pomfrey will be here soon. She and Professor Sprout found out that Mandrake juice will the ones that were petrified. Hermione should be fine by tonight."

Draco was sitting with his house mates for dinner. His leg was healed thanks to Madam Pomfrey. The three Slytherins have been waiting for Hermione to arrive. Just then the big oak door of the Great Hall opened and the Gryffindor Princess entered the room. Her eyes scanned the room and locked with Draco's for a while and she gave him a secret smile. Then she ran towards Harry and Ron and gave them both a big hug.

Draco felt a pang of jealousy inside him, but he knew that later, in their meeting place, he would get one himself. They watched the three of them talk and laugh. Hermione congratulated them for figuring it out but the two boys told her that it was all thanks to her.

Draco was glad that everything was back to normal and that he could spend his last remaining days of the school year peacefully with his friends.

A/N: _That was a long chapter! Sorry for any grammatical or/and spelling mistakes! I hope you liked it! Till next time!_

PLEASE REVIEW!


	4. Chapter 4- Third Year Part 1

**Disclaimer: I do not own anything!**

 **Chapter 4**

 _~ Third Year Part 1~_

"Harry!" Ron shouted. "What the hell were you thinking, blowing up your Aunt!"

"Oh, Ronald! He has just arrived. Give him some time!" Harry heard Hermione say.

Just like what Ron said, Harry blew up his Aunt and that's why he's now with the Weasleys. His Uncle Vernon's sister, Aunt Marge, came to visit them. But after a big mistake, her bad-mouthing Harry's parents, she blew up and flew away. Harry didn't really know if he was the cause of that, but after it happened he packed his trunk and left. He was picked up by the Knight Bus and went to the Leakey Cauldron and there he met the Minister. He was afraid that the Minister was there to tell him that he got expelled for using magic outside school, but was surprised that a Portkey was waiting for him to bring him to the Weasleys. Harry was too scared to say anything or ask why he was let out so easily and thought that maybe something was off and that the Minister was hiding something that he didn't want Harry to know. The Minister pushed Harry into his room and gave him a book, telling him that it was a portkey that would bring him to the Burrow, and it did.

Harry entered the house after Ron and Hermione and was immediately enveloped in a hug by Mrs Weasley.

"Oh, Harry dear. How are you?" she gently asked him. Behind her, all the Weasley family came over to greet Harry.

"Hey, Harry!" greeted Fred.

"Good job on blowing up your Aunt." Saluted his twin, George, which caused him a slap in the back of his head from his mom.

"Harry, dear. Why did you blow up your Aunt?"

"I – She was criticizing my parents. She said that they died in a car crash because my dad was drunk…"

"A car crash? Lily and James Potter died in a car crash because they were drunk?! That's ridiculous!" shouted Mrs Weasley.

"Well, that old woman deserved to be blown up." Said Ron, surly.

"Never mind about that. The Ministry has taken care of it. It's late now. Let's go to bed. Bill and Charlie will be arriving tomorrow morning, so we have to wake up early," ordered Mrs Weasley. "Harry, you'll be sleeping with Ron. Go ahead. Goodnight, see you tomorrow."

Everybody greeted each other a good night and went to their respective rooms. Harry and Ron were too tired to talk, so when they arrived in his room, Harry quickly changed and they both fell asleep when their heads touched the pillows.

* * *

The following morning, the Weasleys, Harry and Hermione had a big breakfast together. They woke up early when Bill and Charlie arrived. While eating breakfast, Harry had pleasant conversations with the family and his best friends, but something was bothering him. Something was in his head but just couldn't remember what it was. He shook his head and got out of his daydream when he heard Mrs Weasley talking to him.

"Harry, can you come with me when you're done changing? I need your help with something." He nodded and left the table to change.

When he was done, he went down to wait for Mrs Weasley. He was surprised that nobody else was coming with them but she simply told him that the others were too lazy to come. They were going to a farm that's owned by Mrs Weasley's friend. The walked to go all the way to the farm and Harry was wondering why they didn't just apparate. When they arrived, they were greeted by a witch that was about the same age as Mrs Weasley. Harry learned that they were classmates and best friends during their years at Hogwarts and that the lady would give Mrs Weasley the vegetables and fruits she needed for free. Harry went around the farm while the two ladies were talking. When Mrs Weasley said it was time to leave, it was around noon. They said their goodbye's and left.

"Let's apparate, I don't feel like walking all the way to the Burrow. Here, dear, take my arm." Harry took hold on Mrs Weasley's arm while they apparated. When they arrived, the house seemed mysteriously quiet. He thought that it wasn't normal and that something was wrong.

Harry walked first and opened slowly the door. When the door was open, he didn't see anybody, so he walked towards the living room. When he stepped into the room he was greeted with loud noises from firecrackers (Fred and George's invention) and party poppers (from Hermione).

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY!" they all shouted. Ah. That's what he forgot. It was his birthday, he forgot his own birthday.

He was pulled into the room by Hermione where he received some pats on the back and hugs from the boys and kisses on the cheeks from the girls. When he could finally process what was happening, Harry saw a bunch of birthday gifts on the table and was shocked to see Blaise, Theo and Draco in the Borrow too.

"Hey! What are you guys doing here?"

"Ron and Hermione invited us." Answered Theo.

"It almost gave mum a heart attack when I told her to invite them too. So, I told mum and dad everything. Shocked her when I told her that Draco was with us when we went to save Ginny. But the funniest was dad. The three of them came last week and when dad came back from work and saw Draco, he fainted!" they all laughed at the story and Mr Weasley's cheeks were red with embarrassment.

"Come on now. Let's go outside and eat." Mrs Weasley ushered everybody out of the house and in the big garden where a big table was set.

On the table, there were various kinds of food. It was clear how much he was loved by the Weasley family. The table was filled with laughter and sounds of plates and silverware clanking together. Afterwards, Mrs Weasley took out the cake that was baked and decorated by Hermione and Ginny. They sang a Happy Birthday song and gave their gifts to Harry.

* * *

After Lunch, Mr and Mrs Weasley allowed the six friends to go around the field if they wanted some time together. Ron led his friends on top of a hill where they had a wonderful view of the house and the surroundings.

"Does your parents know that you're here?" Harry asked his three Slytherin friends after sitting down.

"Nah. Draco and I told our parents that we were at Blaise's house and Mrs Zabini is barely there so she won't know if we're really in the Manor or not." Answered Theo.

"But if Mrs Zabini is not there, then who cooks your meals?" Hermione asked.

"Our house elves," Hermione looked at Blaise warily. "Hey don't look at me like that! I treat my house elves nicely, unlike others…" he said while eying Draco.

"Hey!" he shouted defensively. "I treat them right too! Only Dobby was mistreated because father had him during his 'bad' moment."

"Oh, talking about your dad, I saw him pick you up at the train station when we left Hogwarts. What was that all about?" Ron asked the blond.

"I honestly don't know. This summer holiday has been very weird."

"What do you mean by 'weird'?"

"Well… It's like, he's back to his old self…" He saw that his friends were looking at him strangely.

Blaise broke the silence by saying, "Well, shouldn't that be a good thing?"

"I really don't know. I mean yes, it should be. But it's weird. I just can't help to think that he's up to something…" he sighed.

Hermione moved closer to Draco and put her hand on his arm. "Draco, I think you should be happy that he's back. Maybe you're right. Maybe he'll go back to his 'mean' self. That's why you need to take advantage of the time you have with him right now, we'll never know when he'll change again."

"Why do you always have to be right?"

"Because I'm the brain of this group," she answered jokingly, which made the boys chuckle.

"Enough about Draco. Harry, you didn't really tell us about what happened in the Chambers of Secrets." Said Theo.

"Remember when I told you that the journal we found was Voldemort's?" they all nodded. "Well, his real name is Tom Marvelo Riddle and I found out that he's a half-blood." Everyone's mouths dropped. "His father is a muggle and his mum is a witch."

"So, he hates and kills Muggles and Muggle-born…"

"But his father is a muggle…"

"I just think he's a big lunatic!" said Blaise, Theo and Ron consecutively.

"Anyways," continued Harry. "He was there in the Chambers. Well, his sixteen-year-old self was there. He was the Heir of Slytherin and he was the one who opened it in 1950 and blamed Hagrid for it. He was the one controlling the Basilisk and it was about to kill me but Fawkes came and helped me."

"How did you kill the Basilisk?" one of them asked.

"When Fawkes came, he had the sorting hat with him and gave it to me. And inside I found the sword of Gryffindor and I used that to kill the Basilisk."

"How about Tom Riddle? How did you get rid of him?" asked Ron.

"I used the Basilisk's fang to stab the diary. Since he was just a spirit of his sixteen-year-old memories, I thought that if I destroy the diary he will be gone. And it worked…"

"Wicked! You fought with You-Know-Who during our First and Second Year and you even survived the killing curse when you were still a baby!" said Theo in admiration.

"Let's just hope that everything this year will be normal and that You-Know-Who won't make an appearance." Said Blaise.

"Yes, well, you know that's not possible. With Sirius Black on the loose…" Ron whacked Theo in the stomach with the back of his hand. The brown haired Slytherin cried in pain and was about to hit Ron back but stopped when he saw the glares from his four other friends.

"Who's Sirius Black?" Harry asked.

"Well…"

"You see…"

"Uhm…"

"He's…"

"HE'S ONE OF THE DARK LORD'S FAITHFULL FOLLOWERS!" Theo suddenly blurted. He immediately clasped his mouth shut when he saw more deathly glares that were sent towards him.

"What does he have to do with me?"

"When your parents died, Harry, they caught him and put him in Azkaban. But not long ago, he managed to escape" Hermione explained softly.

"There has never been a break out from Azkaban before so nobody knows how he got out and now we don't know where he is. He could be anywhere." Added Draco.

"You have to be careful mate." Said Blaise with a slightly concerned voice.

"Why?"

"We thought that he broke out of Azkaban to look for you and kill you to finish his _master's_ task." Answered Theo.

"And don't think of going around and look for him!"

"Honestly Ron! Why would I go look for someone who wants to kill me?"

The redhead shrugged, "We never know. You might get bored and start to look for him." He said jokingly. Theo laughed and the two other Slytherins chuckled silently but stopped when they saw Hermione give the four of them a deathly glare clearly meant: ' _It's not funny!_ '

"Why don't we go back inside? It's getting late." Hermione stood up and pushed the boys back to the house.

Blaise, Theo and Draco decided to stay for the night so Mrs. Weasley cleared out the living room for their sleepover. The six friends continued to talk and laugh with each other before finally falling asleep.

Hermione, being an early person, woke up first. She woke up when she felt the morning sun on her face. She gave out a happy sigh and stretched out while still having her eyes closed. When she slowly opened her eyes, the sight in front of her made her blush. In front of her was a sleeping Draco and he was facing her so she could see his sleeping face. For some minutes, Hermione stayed there and stared. When she finally came to her senses, she shook her head and darted to the kitchen. Molly was already up and preparing breakfast for everyone, so she helped her out.

After a while, everybody woke up and entered the dining room. The room was full and loud but they were all having a happy morning. When they finished their breakfast, an owl arrived and knocked on their window.

"Ah! It's our Hogwarts letters!" shouted Fred.

"Dumbledore even sent one for you guys," said George handing the letters to the three Slytherins.

After their meal, the three Slytherins said their goodbyes and thanked the Weasleys for having them over. Mrs Weasley hugged the three boys and made them promise that they would come back and visit again. Hermione hugged the three of them and promised to see each other in Diagon Alley when they buy their school supplies.

* * *

A week before going back to Hogwarts the Golden Trio went to Diagon Alley with the other Weasleys. They were in Flourish and Blotts when Hermione finally saw Draco again. She was about to run and hug him but stopped when she saw that he wasn't alone. She saw a man with long blond hair who she knew was his father and a woman who she guessed was his mother.

Draco turned around and locked eyes with Hermione. He was about to call her name when he remembered that his parents were with him. He recovered and put a glare and a sneer on his face. But unluckily for him, his mother saw his face when their eyes met and knew that her son was hiding something from her.

"Draco, do you know her? Aren't you going to introduce us?" Narcissa Malfoy asked her son.

"What? Oh! Uhm… Mother, this is Granger…" He said looking at the brunette. "Hermione Granger."

"Nice to meet you, Miss Granger." Narcissa greeted the brunette with a smile which surprised Hermione.

"Uhm… It's nice to meet you too, Mrs Malfoy…" she greeted back shyly.

There was an awkward pause and the Malfoy family were staring at the dark-haired witch. Despite the situation, Hermione blushed and felt uncomfortable. But she also noticed that Lucius Malfoy was simply staring at her and not glaring.

"Hermione! We've been looking for you! Where…" Ron stopped midsentence when he saw who was in front of his friend and paled a bit and so did Harry since his last encounter with the Malfoy Patriarch was not a pleasant one. The two boys were expecting Lucius to throw insults at them, but to their surprise, the man greeted them with a light nod. They greeted them back and stood awkwardly, trying to avoid looking at their eyes.

"Let's go Hemione." Harry politely excused themselves and pulled Hermione and Ron away from the Malfoys to avoid the awkwardness.

Before Draco left the store, he saw Hermione again. She was looking around the shelves for a book. He was studying her and he saw for the first time how happy she gets when she finds a new book that interests her or how her eyebrows would furrow in concentration. He was so caught up on staring and studying her that he didn't notice his parents looking at the both of them. His parents were not stupid, they knew exactly what kind of look their son was giving the muggle-born witch.

 **A/N: Okay so that's it! I know that it's short but I promise you that the next chapter would be very long. I wanted to post this chapter today (May 28) because it's Mother's Day here in France. I hope you liked it. I'm sorry for any spelling or grammatical errors. Please review and follow (if you still didn't).**

 **Thanks to those who reviewed and followed the previous chapters, it means a lot! Can I ask for at least 5 reviews before I post the next chapter, please?**

 **Thanks for reading. And don't forget to review…**

 **PLEASE REVIEW!**


	5. Chapter 5- Third Year Part 2

**A/N:** **As promised, here's a long chapter! Hope you like it and the next chapter will be published soon too!**

 **Review, review, review and you'll get more, more, more!**

 **Sachiko Heiwajima: Thanks for your review! I can't tell you what will happen to Lucius. You'll find out soon!**

 **Thanks to those who reviewed! Sorry for any grammatical or spelling mistakes…**

 **(Don't forget to review** **)**

 **Disclaimer:** _ **I do not own anything!**_

 **Chapter 5**

 _~ Third Year Part 2~_

After the trip to Diagon Alley, the three Gryffindors talked a bit about their encounter with Draco's parents. They saw how beautiful and kind his mother was. They also noticed how stiff Lucius was the whole time. They found it strange that he didn't say any remark to them during their encounter and were shocked to receive only a nod. They all agreed that the older Malfoy was indeed acting strangely.

Now it was finally the first of September and all the young wizards were on their way to platform 9 ¾. They couldn't wait to go back to school and spend more time with the other three. Since a lot of students like to go around the train, the six friends didn't take any chances and just sat in different compartments. This year, since they came to the station a bit late, there wasn't any empty compartment left. They found one at the end of the train but they saw that their new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher was there, asleep. They didn't mind him and hoped that they wouldn't disturb him. The Golden Trio stayed silent during the whole ride and were hoping for it to continue until their arrival at Hogwarts. But the quietness was interrupted when a bunch of gliding, wraith-like dark creatures, made their way inside the train.

* * *

"You okay, mate?" Blaise asked his raven-haired friend. They were back in their meeting place, Moaning Myrtle's Bathroom. After the three Slytherins heard about what happened on the train, they were concerned about their friends who were attacked by the dementors.

"Yeah. It gave us a scare when we heard about what happened. Since the three of you were the ones at the back, you were the only ones who got attacked. So, what happened?" Theo asked while taking a seat next to Ron.

"Well I don't know how they got in, but when they did, they went inside our compartment and started sucking out our happy memories. I didn't really know what happened during that time, I just know that when they were gone, I felt sad and like something was missing inside me." Started Ron.

"I think they were targeting Harry though. I think they sucked more of his soul than ours." Said Hermione. "Good thing Professor Lupin was there or else we could've died or still be alive but soulless." They all shuddered at that thought.

"How did he make them disappear?" asked Draco.

"He used a Patronus Charm…" started Harry but was cut off by Hermione.

"Apparently, it's one of the most powerful defensive charms known to wizard kind and the primary protection against Dementors and Lethifolds… I have to go check in the library more about it later…" she started rummaging inside her bag for a notebook. The five boys chuckled at the girl. They knew that once the witch found something interesting, she would spend a lot of time in the library researching about the thing.

"Well, I guess classes start tomorrow. And we have to start the act again." Theo said, looking a bit disappointed that they have to act like they hate each other because of the rivalry between the two houses.

"Oh, pssh! We know! Anyways we're best friends, and we know that whatever you say is not true." Ron told his Slytherin friends.

"Yeah… We've talked about this anyway." Added Harry.

"Okay. When we were on the train, the rest of our house made nicknames for you." Started Draco, "So the rest of the Slytherins are calling Ron 'Redhead', 'Tomato head' and stuff like that, but I'll be calling you 'Weasel'. Harry is the 'Scar-Face' and Hermione is the 'Gryffindor Bookworm'."

"What, no ' _Mudblood_ ' then?" Draco winced at the word.

"Look, I said I was sorry okay? I didn't mean to call you that." Draco looked at her with an apologetic look. He was ashamed, he still is, and he still can't help but feel guilty about it since the day he called her that word.

"Don't worry, I'm not angry about that anymore. Anyways they can call me that word as much as they want and I wouldn't even care. They might think that I am below them, but when it comes to school and magic, it is clear that they are way below me." She said confidently, with her head held up high.

"That, 'Mi, is to true!" agreed Theo. Hermione smiled at him but then gave him a confused look.

"'Mi'?"

"Yeah! Blaise and I wanted to give you that as our nickname for you since Ron and Harry call you 'Mione. Is that okay with you?"

"Of course! I love it!" she went and hugged the two boys.

The six friends stayed in the bathroom until it was time to leave. When they left the promised to meet up again the next night.

* * *

After breakfast, everyone got their timetables. And to their surprise Dumbledore made the Hufflepuff and the Ravenclaw have all the classes together while the Slytherin and the Gryffindor were together. After seeing this, the Double Golden Trio was really happy to see that they were sharing all their classes with their friends even though if they have to act like enemies.

A week later, they were on their way to Hagrid's first class of Care of Magical Creatures, and they heard Slytherins making fun of Hagrid.

"I mean what is he thinking? Making us have classes in the Forbidden Forest. He's mental, that half giant." They heard the others laughing at Draco's comment about their new teacher. The three knew that he didn't mean it of course. Last year, when they became friends, they made their three friends visit Hagrid and made the half-giant swear not to tell anyone about their friendship. After their encounter with Hagrid, the three Slytherins became close with him as much as Harry, Ron and Hermione were.

Hagrid showed them a Hippogriff called Buckbeak and made Harry ride him. After Harry, Hermione was brave enough to touch the creature. She received a round of applause from her fellow housemates and secret smiles from her other three best friends. A Slytherin girl named Pansy Parkinson was really jealous of the attention the bright witch was getting. She wanted all the attention to her, which she got, but not the way she wanted.

She stalked towards the creature, ignoring warnings from the teacher, Harry and Hermione. When she reached a hand towards the Hippogriff, he didn't like it since the girl lacked respect and didn't bow to him. He got mad and attacked her. His eagle claws grazed her skin and she received three big gashes on her arm.

After a terrible high pitched scream, Hagrid took Pansy far away from Buckbeak and most of the Slytherin males went to help walk to the hospital wing while the rest of the class look at her with concern looks or smirked at her stupidity.

"Okay! Class dismissed! Go now!" Hagrid ushered his students back to the castle while he went to go see his other injured student.

"Are you not going to go and see her?" Hermione asked Draco, Theo and Blaise, who was walking with them.

"Why should we go and see her?"

"Come on, Theo. She's in the same house as you. Are you not curious about how she's feeling?"

"Well, you know 'Mi, we're Slytherins. We won't really care if someone from our house gets hurt. Well if it's someone love then, of course, we care but if not, then it doesn't bother us." Shrugged Theo.

"Did you hear her scream?" Ron clogged and unclogged his ear, "I thought I went deaf!" the boys laughed and Hermione suppressed a smile.

"Oh, stop it. She was hurt."

"Oh, come one, 'Mione. She deserved it. And anyway she won't die because of some scratches. It's her fault anyway. If she'd listened to us she wouldn't have been hurt." Harry told her.

"Well, I guess. I'm just scared what she'll do to Hagrid. It's his first year teaching and he seemed so happy about it!"

"Don't worry Hermione. The Parkinsons are not a big Pureblood family and her parents don't have a lot of power against the Ministry so they won't be able to harm Hagrid." Draco assured her.

Hermione felt a bit better, but she still couldn't stop to worry about her half-giant friend and hoped that his classes won't end just because of what happened to Pansy.

Months have passed and nobody talked about what happened to Pansy and they still had classes with Hagrid, but he was forced to show them less dangerous creatures. One day they found out that Hagrid was having a hearing some months after the new year. The friends were worried about the faith of the half-giant and hoped that nothing bad will happen to him.

* * *

It was a day before Christmas holidays and the six friends agreed to stay at Hogwarts to spend Christmas together. Hermione was running in the halls, on her way to the first-floor bathroom.

"Hey guess what!" Hermione said happily to the boys, "Apparently, Harry, Ron and I are the only Gryffindors who are staying here. So, I went to ask Professor Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall if Theo, Blaise and Draco could stay with us and they said yes! They said we can sleep in the Gryffindor common room, we could move the sofas and put mattresses by the chimney."

"That's great!" all the boys' shouted together.

"And the most fun part!" she held up her finger, "Hagrid promised us a nice small Christmas tree for the Common Room and Professor McGonagall is allowing us to decorate it! And we _will_ decorate it the _muggle_ way so no magic!" the boys, save Harry, groaned.

"Oh, come on 'Mione! Why can't we use magic?" whined Ron.

"Yeah 'Mi! It will take ages to decorate the tree and the room!" followed Theo. Hermione giggled at the two boys because of their similarities. They're both very lazy.

"It's fun…" she started but Harry cut her off.

"It's nice to bond while decorating. It'll be fun and anyway it'll be only us, no one will know you Slytherins did something the _Muggle_ way." He chuckled at them, "And it's the first time we spend Christmas together."

"Okay, I'm in," Blaise said and the rest followed.

When everyone was gone, the three Slytherins quietly made their way to the Gryffindor Common Room with some of their things, making sure that none of the other students, that stayed, would see them. The first day they decorated the room and the tree just like how Hermione wanted, but they still used magic to place some decorations to places where they couldn't reach. They were having so much fun that they forgot about dinner. Since Dumbledore noticed that the six students weren't in the Great Hall for dinner, he sent food in the Common Room.

During the first week of vacation, before Christmas, Draco and Hermione, with the help of Blaise made the other three do their homework. With Hermione and Draco's nagging, the group finally finished their work before Christmas and were actually thankful.

When Christmas day arrived, Hemione was the first one to wake up. Her face suddenly lit up when she saw all the presents under the tree. She shook the boys up.

"Wake up! Wake up! It's Christmas!" she shouted.

"Morning 'Mi." Blaise and Theo greeted her.

"Morning 'Mione." Harry and Ron greeted her with a sleepy voice.

"Morning…" Before Draco could finish his sentence, Hermione wrapped her arms around him for a hug. He blushed when he suddenly felt her soft lips on his cheek. Hermione was surprised at her actions and hid her mistake by hugging and kissing the other boys' cheeks too. She hoped that she didn't make her crush on Draco so obvious.

They started opening their presents together. They receive a bunch of sweets and they agreed to share them. When they all opened Mrs Weasley's present, they, right away, wore their new jumper and took a picture together to send it to the Weasley family. Theo, Blaise and Draco were really touched when they received it. Harry, Ron and Hermione gasped when they saw that they each got a present from Narcissa Malfoy.

"Yeah. My mom knows. I can't hide anything from her. But she promised not to tell father, so, I guess it's fine." Explained Draco.

"Wow…" Harry was speechless when he saw that he got new gloves for his Quidditch games.

Ron was too when he saw that he received a book of Quidditch with the rules and most famous players.

"Oh, my…" Hermione put her hand over her heart when she opened her present. She received a new book that she has never read before and a very soft, light purple blanket. "Oh, my god, Draco! Send her our thanks and tell her that we loved all gifts."

Draco nodded and turned his back to her to open his next present. It was from Hermione and he knew that he wouldn't be able to keep a straight face so he turned to face the other side. He got a handmade scarf from her. It had the Slytherin colours: green and silver. At the tip of the scarf, _'DM'_ was neatly crafted. And just as he thought, his cheeks were feeling warm and he knew that he was very red.

When Draco finally gathered himself and knew that his heartbeat was back to normal and the colour of his face too, he turned back to his friends who were done opening their gifts except for Hermione, who has yet to open his gift. He watched her without blinking and hoping that she would like it.

Hermione knew that the last gift was from Draco and she left it to open last because just like what we like to say: 'Save the best for the last'. She wanted to rip the gift wraps quickly but she made sure that she opened it slowly so that she didn't look like a crazy person. When the wraps were gone, on her hand was a small velvet box. She opened it and gasped when she saw what was inside.

Inside was a thin silver necklace with a gold lion pendant with small ruby eyes. "Oh my god, Draco! It's beautiful! I love it!" she beamed at him.

Draco saw that she passed the box to him and he realized that she wanted him to put it on her. He slowly took the necklace and placed it on her neck. She shivered a little when he touched the exposed skin on the base of her neck. When he clasped it close, Hermione touched the pendant and turned quickly to hug Draco. He wasn't expecting it, so he fell on his butt with Hermione on top of him. She let go of him and give him a big kiss on the cheek to thank him again. She was too busy staring at her new necklace, to Draco's pleasure, and missed the look of the red-faced blond.

The other four boys were watching the exchange silently and smirked knowingly at each other. They found something they could use to blackmail the Slytherin Prince.

Ever since Christmas day, Hermione never took her necklace off, which pleased Draco. For the rest of the holiday, the six friends played together in the Gryffindor common room or would go around to see Hagrid for tea or simply sit by the black lake talking and laughing. With Dumbledore's agreement, they were allowed to have a T.V. so they watched movies every night.

One day, Professor Dumbledore gave them a surprise. When they went to the Black Lake, they saw that the water turned to ice. On the ground, they found six pairs of ice skates and assumed that it was for them. They stayed the whole day there skating and taking turns on teaching Harry, who has never skated in his life.

Days have passed and now the three Slytherins are back in their common room. They've spent the night before with the other three Gryffindors. It was their last day together in the common room, so they stayed up until late at night watching a scary movie. They all have never really seen a scary movie before, because, for Harry, the Dursley's never allowed him to watch the T.V., the other four young wizards don't have a T.V. and Hermione, well, you know… she's scared of scary movies. They watched the Exorcist which scared them to death. They were having a hard time falling asleep and Ron made a joke saying that the movie was scarier than Voldemort himself which made all of them laugh till there were tears in their eyes.

* * *

It was now February and the Double Golden Trio were on their way to see Hagrid who just came back from his hearing. When they arrived at his hut, they were greeted by a very sad half-giant. They learned that, luckily, nothing will happen to Hagrid but Buckbeak was sentenced to death. They were surprised that the Parkinsons succeeded to win the hearing. They pitied the creature and Hagrid. They left the hut with frowns and a heavy heart because they were regretful that they couldn't help him.

When Hogsmeade day came, the five friends went discreetly together while Harry stayed in the castle since he didn't get his permission slip signed by his Uncle Vernon. He tried to escape using his invisibility cloak, but the Weasley twins found him. They gave him a map that they found in Filch's room and it was called the Marauders Map, it's a magical document that reveals all of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. It shows every classroom, every hallway, and every corner of the castle, but it also shows every inch of the grounds, as well as all the secret passages that are hidden within its walls and the location of every person in the grounds, portrayed by a dot. It is also capable of accurately identifying each person, and is not fooled by animagi, Polyjuice Potions, or invisibility cloaks; even the Hogwarts ghosts are not exempt from this. He used the map to take a secret passage that led him to Honeydukes. When he arrived in Hogsmeade, he started looking for his friends and remembered that they wanted to see the Shrieking Shack, much to Ron and Theo's dismay. When he finally found his friends, Harry took the opportunity to have a little fun since he was still wearing his invisibility cloak. He threw snowballs at them and he held his laughter when they saw their scared reaction when they didn't see anybody behind them. Ron and Theo were the first ones to shout and hide behind a big rock. Draco and Blaise prepared some snowballs to throw but couldn't throw them because they didn't know where their attacker was. Harry slowly walked behind Blaise and Draco and pushed them and they fell on a big pile of snow that was next to them. Hermione, being smart and all, started to laugh. The four boys looked at her like she was crazy and were wondering why she was not attacked.

"Harry! Stop! You're scaring them." She said between her laughs. Harry took off his cloak and laughed with Hermione.

The boys took this distraction as payback. Draco launched on him and Harry fell on his bottom and the other three threw snowballs at him.

"Bloody hell Harry! It wasn't funny!" Ron shouted.

"Yeah! Don't scare us like that! Especially when we're near the Shrieking Shack!" added Theo.

After their payback, the small group walked away from the Shack and towards the village. Harry told them about the Map and, as expected, Hermione told him to give it back to McGonagall but obviously, the boys made her approve of keeping it, stating that it may come in handy.

When they got back to the village, Harry put his cloak back on when they saw Professor McGonagall enter the Three Broomstick with the Minister. They were sitting at the far end of the bar and were hidden by the stairs and heard a bit of the conversation between McGonagall and Madam Rosmerta, while they were climbing the stairs. When they heard their Professor whispered 'Sirius Black' to the other woman, Harry got up and followed them inside a private room.

Hermione, Draco, Blaise, Theo and Ron waited outside the Three Broomstick for Harry to come back out. After a while, the door burst open and they followed the footprints made by an invisible person which led them back to the forest.

"Harry?" Hermione slowly approached Harry, who was sitting on a big rock. She took off his cloak and found him crying.

"He was their friend." He whispered. "He was their friend!" he said again but, this time, with venom. "He betrayed them. He sold his own friends to Voldemort."

"Harry…"

"I won't look for him. I'll let him find me. And when he does, I'll kill him. It's his fault that my parents are dead." And with that Harry ran back to the Honeydukes cellar, through the tunnel and into the castle.

Harry didn't sleep that night and it worried his friends. He couldn't get Black's face off his mind and he could see him laughing at him and when he falls asleep he could see him killing his parents over and over again.

A week later, all the students were sent to the Great Hall. Dumbledore sent all the Professors and the ghosts, who were willing to help, for a search party. Apparently, Sirius Black managed to enter the castle and tried to enter the Gryffindor Common Room, which made the Fat Lady vanish from her portrait. Harry felt that the time when he meets Sirius was getting closer and closer.

Months have passed and they still haven't found Sirius Black. More and more Dementors were guarding Hogwarts. Harry was getting secret private lessons with Professor Lupin who thought him how to conjure a Patronus charm.

Hemione was in her dormitory with her four other roommates. Two of her roommates were already sleeping but Lavender Brown and Parvati Patil were still talking, probably gossiping about new rumours that were roaming around the castle. She was reading a book until she heard something from the two girls, that interested her.

"Have you heard about Pansy Parkinson?" Lavender asked.

"You mean about her and Draco Malfoy?" Hermione raised an eyebrow but kept her book up to hide her face.

"Yeah! I heard that they're dating." Hermione felt as if someone has just punched her in the heart and was trying to prevent tears, that were forming, to fall.

"She was telling her friends in the Girls' bathroom about how Malfoy's father helped them during Hagrid's hearing and that it was thanks to the Malfoys that Buckbeak is going to get executed…"

"I also heard her boasting about her and Malfoy and their snogging sessions in their Common Room in the dungeons…" Having heard enough, Hermione shut her book loudly which made the two girls jump.

"It's late. Stop talking and go back to your bed and sleep." She said fiercely and she glared at them not knowing why she was really mad at them. She pulled the curtains, that were around her bed, and made sure that she was hidden from their view. She quietly cried herself to sleep and hoped she will able to accept that Draco will never be hers and that they will only be friends.


	6. Chapter 6- Third Year Part 3

**Disclaimer:** _ **I do not own anything!**_

 **Chapter 6**

 _~ Third Year Part 3 ~_

The next day was, thankfully, a Saturday. Hermione, despite being always the first one to wake up, woke up later than usual. Before she went down the Common Room, she made sure to dispose any trace of her tears from the night before. She met Harry and Ron at the bottom of the stairs and the three of them went down to have breakfast.

"Hemione, are you okay?" Harry asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Answered Hermione, giving him a fake smile. Harry looked at Ron, who just shrugged. They knew something was wrong with their best friend but they knew that, when she's ready, she will tell them about it.

After breakfast, the three of them went to their spot in the library to do some homework. After an hour, their other three friends came and joined them. When Hermione saw Draco, she glared at him and stuffed all her things inside her bag and stormed off.

"What did I do?" Draco asked the boys and they all shrugged. "Should I go after her?"

"Nah. I think she needs some time alone. If something is really bothering her, she would come back and tell us. But for now, let's just give her some space." Said Harry.

"Do you think it's the time of the month?" Ron whispered to Theo.

"I don't know. Maybe…" shrugging, Theo whispered back.

The boys didn't see Hermione for the rest of the day and they started to worry about her. It was only later at dinner time when they saw her again.

"Where have you been?" Harry asked her.

"I was with Ginny. I needed to spend some time with her."

"Next time at least tell us where you're going before storming off. We've been looking everywhere for you." Ron told her.

"Sorry, I just needed to be with a girl for, you know, a 'girl talk'." She answered, slightly embarrassed of her actions earlier that day.

Ron and Harry told her not to worry about it and that they completely understood if Hermione wanted to talk with a girl. They finished eating together and went to the Common Room after dinner.

Later that night, when Harry knew that nobody would be in the Common Room except for one person, he quietly went down. Just as he predicted, Hermione was there, doing her homework.

"Hey. Sorry" he apologized when he saw Hermione jump a little.

"Oh hi, Harry."

Harry took a seat next to her. "Okay, so now tell me what's really going on."

Hermione sighed and her quill down. "I really can't hide anything from you, can I?" she asked and continued when Harry shook his head. She took a deep breath and said, "I heard Parvati and Lavender talking last night. They said that Lucius Malfoy helped the Parkinsons during Hagrid's trial."

"And you believed them?"

"Well, no. I don't think that Mr Malfoy would actually help Mr Parkinson. But that's not why I was in a foul mood this morning."

"So, why were you so grumpy and angry then?"

"They said that Pansy is dating Draco." At that, Harry raised his eyebrow. "Don't look at me like that. You know that it's possible that they might be dating…"

"Honestly Hermione, Draco is our friend. If he was dating somebody he would have told us by now and plus, I don't think Parkinson is Draco's type."

"Fine he might not be dating her, but that doesn't mean he can't snog her."

"And why do think that?"

"Parvati and Lavender said that they heard her talk about their 'snogging sessions' in their common room…"

"You know that's not true…"

"Of course I don't know if it's true, Harry! I mean she said it. If she did, then it happened…" Hermione looked at the floor and tried hard not to cry.

Harry put an arm around her shoulder for comfort. Why don't we just ask him?"

"No, I don't want to. I don't want to talk to him." Hermione stood up and took her things with her. She bid Harry goodnight and went to her dorm.

Harry sighed and shook his head. His friend was stubborn and believed false news easily.

Two weeks have passed and before they knew it, it was already the day of Buckbeak's execution. For the past two weeks, Hermione barely talked to Draco. When the six friends were together, Hermione would sit far away from him and wouldn't look at him or only give him a one-word answer. It annoyed the blond so much and since he is as stubborn as the brown-haired witch, he too, didn't try to talk to her or ask her what was wrong and avoided her. Their other four friends didn't do anything either, because they didn't want to be in the middle of their 'dispute' and, also, they were getting tired of their stubbornness. Hermione didn't want to know anything about Draco's love-life and didn't want to talk to him after she heard Pansy calling him 'Drakie-poo' in the Great Hall one day. But what she didn't saw was Draco's disgusted face when the nasty witch called him that.

Around seven-thirty in the evening, the Golden Trio were on their way to see Hagrid before the creature's execution. On their way, they saw Draco with Crabbe and Goyle. They were talking about Hagrid and making fun of him, but of course, Draco did it not wholeheartedly.

Hermione didn't know what came to her, but she felt so angry at Draco, or maybe she was just jealous and stormed towards him with a wand in hand.

"You— you foul, loathsome, evil, little cockroach!" she shouted at him while pointing her wand in his face.

"Hermione!" said Ron weakly, and he tried to her hand as she swung it back.

"Get off, Ron!"

"Stop it, Hermione!" Harry ordered.

Hermione lowered her wand and slightly turned around. Then suddenly, without realizing, her knuckles made contact with his nose.

"Hermione!" both Harry and Ron yelled while Crabbe and Goyle just stood there, flabbergasted.

Hermione didn't really know what she did but when she saw Draco holding his nose and when she felt a bit of pain in her knuckles, it dawned her. She punched Draco Malfoy. She punched her best friend _and crush_. And it pained her that she felt a little sorry but very satisfied.

Scared of the witch, Crabbe and Goyle ran off back to the castle leaving the blond boy behind.

"What the hell Hermione!" Draco glared at her.

"Aww, is Drakie-poo hurt? Want Pansy to kiss your boo-boo?" she mockingly told him, with her hands on her hips.

"What the hell are you talking about?"

"You know very well what I'm talking about, Malfoy!" Draco took a step back when he heard what she called him. She's never called him that anymore, and it shocked him. He also saw anger and maybe a little bit of pain in her eyes. "Why don't you just go back to your Pansy." She said more lightly but still with venom. She pushed past him and walked down towards Hagrid's cabin.

"Sorry about that mate. You know her and her temper…" Ron told his friend, handing him a handkerchief for his bleeding nose.

"Why was she talking about Pansy?" Draco asked them while cleaning himself.

"She… Uhm… She thought that your dad helped hers during Hagrid's trial and that it's the reason why Buckbeak has been sentenced to death." Answered Harry.

"What?! You know that's not true!"

"We know Draco! But she's just upset today, I bet she didn't mean what she said. We should go and see Hagrid. Why don't you go see Madame Pomfrey and let her check your nose." Draco nodded and left to go to the Hospital Wing.

Ron and Harry ran to catch up with Hermione. "Was that really necessary, 'Mione?" Ron asked.

"Not now Ron! If you don't want me to do the same thing to you, I suggest you stop talking right now!" she snapped.

She knocked on Hagrid's door and he greeted them with a small, sad smile. He offered them some tea and tried to act normal, but the three Gryffindors could see how pale he was and that he was trembling. They talked about Buckbeak for a while until Hermione made Hagrid sit down so that she can prepare the tea herself. When she opened the cupboard to look for some milk, she found Ron's rat, Scabbers, hiding in one of the milk jugs.

"Ron, look! It's Scabbers!"

Ron gaped at her.

"What are you talking about? He ran away, remember?"

Hermione carried the milk jar over the table and turned it upside-down. With a frantic squeak and much scrambling to get back inside, Scabbers the rat came sliding onto the table.

"Scabbers!" said Ron blankly. "Scabbers, what are doing here?" He grabbed the struggling rat and held him with a tight grip.

"Keep him somewhere safe so that he won't run away, _again_ ," Harry told him.

Hagrid suddenly stood up, his eyes fixed on the window. "They're comin'…"

Harry, Ron and Hermione whipped around. A group of men was walking down the distant castle steps. In front was Albus Dumbledore, his silver beard gleaming in the dying sun. Next to him was Cornelius Fudge and behind them came the executioner.

Hagrid told them to quickly go back to the castle before they get caught. They ran up the hill, towards the castle. Before going in, they turned around and looked at Hagrid's garden. The group of men were now out of Hagrid's cabin, and the executioner was walking his way towards the pumpkin patch, where Buckbeak was. Then they saw the swish and heard a thud of the axe, and that's when they knew that Buckbeak was gone.

Harry and Ron put their arms on Hermione, while she cried. Suddenly Scabbers started squealing loudly and bit Ron and ran away. Ron ran after him.

"Harry! He's going towards the Whomping Willow!" Hermione shouted.

They saw Ron catch the rat but when he turned towards his friends, they saw a frightened look on his face. He tried to scream but nothing came out of his mouth. Instead, he pointed out something that was behind them.

They turned around and saw an enormous, pale-eyed, jet-black dog not too far from them. They ran towards Ron but the dog was faster. He leapt over their heads and ran towards their friend. The next thing they saw was Ron being dragged into a large gap between the roots of the tree.

After a few moments of fighting the tree, Harry and Hermione finally succeeded to enter the gap.

"Where are we?" asked Hermione.

"I don't know, but I saw this passage on the map and apparently, it leads to the Shrieking Shack."

The two friends followed the passage while hoping that Ron was still alive. After a moment of walking, Harry finally a patch of dim light through a small opening. When they got out of the passage, they saw that they were in a room, a very disordered, dusty room. On the floor, they saw blood and knew that it was Ron's. They followed it until they stopped in front of a half-closed door. They looked at each other before entering.

When they opened the door, they saw Ron on the floor clutching his leg, which was stuck out at a strange angle. Harry and Hermione dashed across to him.

"Ron – are you okay?"

"Where's the dog?"

"Not a dog," Ron moaned. His teeth were gritted with pain. "Harry, it's a trap –"

"What –"

"He's the dog… He's an Animangus…"

Ron was staring over Harry's shoulder. Harry wheeled around. With a bang, the man in the shadows closed the door behind them. It was Sirius Black.

"If you want to kill Harry, you'll have to kill us too!" Hermione shouted at the escapee.

"There will be only one person dying tonight…" Sirius Black told them with a wicked smile.

"And that will be you!" Harry pointed his wand at him.

"No!" Everybody looked towards the owner of the new voice.

"Professor…" Harry said slowly. "Professor Lupin, what are you doing here?"

"Please Harry, let him explain." He told him.

"Don't listen to him, Harry. He's a werewolf." Hermione eyed her Professor cautiously.

Professor Lupin chuckled. "You really are the smartest witch of your age. How long have you known?"

"Ever since Professor Snape made us do that essay about Werewolves."

"Yes, I am one. But please, Sirius is not the man who you think he is…"

"He's the reason my parents are dead!" shouted Harry.

"No, Harry! I thought so too. And I also thought that he killed Peter Pettigrew, but now I know he didn't…"

"How do you know?"

Sirius stepped forward. "Because he's not dead."

"Harry, on the Marauders Map, you saw that it belonged to Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs. Those are nicknames for me, Peter Pettigrew, Sirius Black and your father. We were best friends during our years in Hogwarts. When I transform into a werewolf I forget who I am. So, to stay with me during full moons, the three of them become an Animangus, an unregistered one. You see, everybody thought that Sirius was the Secret-Keeper for your parents while they were hiding from Voldemort, but he declined it so your father gave it Peter. After your parent's deaths, he framed Sirius for betraying your parents, his fake death and for twelve other muggles."

"Then why the hell did he attack us?" asked Ron.

"Sorry, I wasn't aiming for you, I was aiming for him," Sirius said while pointing at Scabbers.

"Scabbers? What do you want with him?" Ron hugged his pet rat and tried to hide him in his robes but the rat was squeaking loudly and trying to free himself from his owner's hands.

"That's not a rat!" Sirius scoffed.

"That's Peter Pettigrew." Said Professor Lupin. "His Animangus was a rat."

"Ron give the rat to them," Harry told his friend.

When Ron hesitated to give his pet to them, Sirius walked to him and grabbed the rat and placed his on top of an old piano in front of Lupin. Both pointed their wands at the rat and waited after a flash of blue-white light erupted from them. When the light was gone, the rat started to change; next moment, a man was on the floor where Scabbers had been. The three students were stuck in their places while they look at the man who was now trying to ask for forgiveness and mercy. Sirius' wand arm rose to curse the man but Lupin seized him around the wrist and stop him.

"Don't kill him," Harry told them. Pettigrew walked towards him but Harry pushed him away. "We'll bring him to the castle and there, the dementors can have him."

Lupin bounded the man and made him walk in front of them. While walking back to the castle, Harry and Sirius helped Ron to walk while Hermione and Lupin were watching Pettigrew closely.

"Sorry about your leg." Sirius apologized to Ron.

"Nah, it's fine. It'll heal."

When they finally got out of the Whomping Willow, Sirius and Harry put Ron down to take a break. Harry stood next to Sirius while they looked at the castle in front of them.

"You're free," Harry told him.

"Yes …" answered Sirius. "But I'm also – I don't know if anyone ever told you – I'm your godfather."

"Yeah, I knew that," said Harry.

"Well… your parents appointed me your guardian," said Sirius stiffly. "If anything happened to them…" Harry waited. "I'll understand, of course, if you want to stay with your aunt and uncle. But … well … think about it. Once my name's cleared … If you wanted a … a different home …"

Some sort of explosion took place in the pit of Harry's stomach. "What – live with you?" he asked. "Leave the Dursleys?"

"Of course, I thought you wouldn't want to," said Sirius quickly. "I understand. I just thought I'd –"

"Are you mad?" said Harry, his voice as croaky as Sirius'. "Of course I want to leave the Dursleys! Have you got a house? When can I move in?"

Sirius turned right around to look at him. "You want to?" he asked. "You mean it?"

"Yeah, I mean it!" answered Harry excitedly, with a big smile on his face. Sirius' gaunt face also broke into the first true smile Harry had seen upon it.

Then they heard a scream from Hermione. They turned around and all the happy moments faded. The full moon was out. Lupin turned into a werewolf and ran to the forbidden forest. Peter Pettigrew turned back into a rat and escaped. And Sirius, Harry's only living family, was captured.

* * *

When Harry opened his eyes, he was back in the castle, in the hospital wing. Hermione was sitting next to Ron's bed whose leg was bandaged up.

"Harry…" Hermione started to say quietly. "I'm sorry. They have Sirius. They've locked him up somewhere upstairs. The Dementors will be giving him the kiss any moment…"

"WHAT?" Harry jumped out of bed and Hermione stood next to him. He quickly put his shoes and glasses on when the door opened and Professor Dumbledore entered.

"Professor! They've got the wrong guy!"

"Yeah! Sirius is innocent Professor!"

"It's not him the bad guy! It's Scabbers!" Pipped in Ron, who clearly just woke up.

"Scabbers?" asked Dumbledore.

"Yeah, my pet rat. Well, he's not really a rat, he turned into a person and…"

"Professor, please believe us. Please do something." Cut in Harry.

"I do believe you," said Dumbledore quietly. "But I have no power to make other men see the truth or to overrule the Minister for Magic. But what we need is more time." His eyes moved and now he was looking at Hermione.

"But –" Hermione began. And then her eyes became really round. "OH!"

"Now, pay attention," said Dumbledore, speaking very low and very clearly. "He's locked in Professor Flitwick's office on the seventh floor. Thirteenth window from the right of the West Tower. If all goes well, you will be able to save more than one innocent life tonight. But remember this, both of you. _You must not be seen_." He walked towards the door and turned back to them. "It's five minutes to midnight. Miss Granger, three turns should do it. Good luck."

"Good luck?" Harry repeated as the door closed behind Dumbledore. "Three turns? What's he talking about? What are we supposed to do?"

He turned to Hermione who was fumbling with the neck of her robes, pulling from beneath them a very long, very fine gold chain with a sparkling hourglass hanging from it.

"Harry come here, quick!" She said urgently. "Sorry Ron, but you can't walk so I can't take you with us."

Harry moved towards, completely bewildered. She threw the chain around his neck and turned the hourglass over three times.

The dark ward of the hospital wing dissolved. Harry had the sensation that he was flying, very fast, backwards. A blur of colours and shapes rushed past him; his ears were pounding. And then he felt solid ground beneath his feet, and everything came to focus again.

He was standing next to Hermione in the now deserted room of the hospital wing and a stream of golden sunlight was falling across the paved floor. He looked wildly around and then at Hermione.

"This," she held the necklace in front of his face. "is called a Time-Turner. Professor McGonagall gave it to me on the first day of school. I've been using it to turn back in time so I could do the hours over again and that's how I've been doing several lessons at once."

"But you've been with us the whole time and we're always with the Slytherins…"

"Well the Ravenclaws and the Hufflepuffs have other classes that we don't have and that interest me, so I asked if I could attend them too." She said slowly. "Come on, let's go. It's Seven-Thirty. What were we doing around Seven-Thirty?"

"I don't know. Maybe going to Hagrid's…"

"Professor Dumbledore said that if we were lucky we could save more than one innocent life…" she frowned and her brows were screwed together in concentration. And then it hit her. "That's it! Harry, we're going to save Buckbeak too!"

"What? How will that help Sirius?" He asked.

"We won't be able to catch Pettigrew so Sirius still can't be freed. When we get him out, he can escape with Buckbeak somewhere far."

"But we can't just let Peter Pettigrew go away!" Harry shouted.

"We don't have a choice, Harry! We'll catch him another time, right now we just have to save Sirius and Buckbeak." Harry didn't have time to answer her back because she ran away.

Suddenly, she stopped and he crashed into her. "Hide!" she said pushing him behind a wall. "That's us."

She pointed in front and Harry saw himself with another Hermione, Ron, Draco and his two Gonnies. He stood silently as he watched the events, that happened some hours before, again. Then the 'old' Hermione punched the 'old' Draco on the face.

"Ow. I feel bad for him. What possessed you to do that anyway, 'Mione?" he asked her.

She didn't look at him and simply answered, "I'll tell you another time." She moved forwards and hid behind the trees. "Come on, let's walk through the trees to go to Hagrid's."

When they were by Hagrid's hut, Harry walked towards his garden to go to Buckbeak but Hermione stopped him.

"Not now Harry. We must make sure that the Minister sees him before we can free him let's do it later when 'we' get out of Hagrid's hut. And promise me something. I know that you want to catch Peter Pettigrew, but we can't do that. Our mission is to save Buckbeak and Sirius. So, you have to promise me that you won't go following Pettigrew."

"Fine." He sulked, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Don't worry, we'll catch him another time. I promise"

After a while, they see their 'old' selves leaving the hut. They freed Buckbeak while the Minister went inside Hagrid's hut. Harry and Hermione stayed behind the trees where they could see the Whomping Willow to wait. Harry looked at Hermione, who was staring at the ground, in deep thoughts.

"You still didn't tell me." Hermione looked at him, quizzingly. "Why you punched Draco."

"Oh…" she looked away. "I – I don't know actually. I was just mad, I guess. With everything happening; Buckbeak being executed, Draco being with Parkinson…"

"Oh, so you're jealous then?"

Hermione looked at him with a shocked face. "Wha – What? O—of course not!" she stuttered. "I'm furious! It's her fault that Buckbeak was supposed to be executed…"

"Oh?" he raised an eyebrow. "It's not about the rumours of Draco and Parkinson kissing?"

Hermione's cheeks flushed with embarrassment and anger. "I—I don't know, really. Maybe." She sighed. "I guess I don't really have an excuse. But with everything going on, plus all of my classes and works and my anger towards the Draco/Pansy rumours, I guess I just lost it and blamed it all on him."

"Well, it's understandable, I guess. But you're not going to keep on ignoring him, right?"

"No. I'll apologise to him when all of this is over."

* * *

When their 'old' selves got out of the Whomping Willow, Harry and Hermione ran away from the werewolf form of Professor Lupin. Harry casted a Patronus charm to help his 'old' self and Sirius from the Dementors.

They rode on Buckbeak's back and went to the seventh floor of the West Tower. They freed Sirius and, even though Harry didn't like it, he sent him away with Buckbeak. Sirius promised him that they would see each other again when he finds somewhere safe to stay. When Sirius left, the two Gryffindors quickly ran back to the hospital wing. When they arrived, Professor Dumbledore was just closing the door.

"We did it, Professor." Said Harry, while panting.

"Did what?" he asked with a small smile. "Goodnight!" He winked at them and left.

They entered the room at the same time that their 'old' selves left.

"What?!" said Ron, flabbergasted. "How—how did you get there? You were there… Now you're there…"

"Do you know what he's talking about Harry?" she asked, playfully.

"No. I mean come on, Ron. How can someone be in two places at the same time?" he laughed and Hermione joined him.

Ron watched the two thinking that they've gone mad. He shook his head and laid down on his bed and fell asleep. Harry and Hermione did the same. When their head hit the pillows, they fell asleep.

* * *

When Hermione woke up, the sun was shining.

"You're finally awake." Said a familiar voice.

She turned towards the voice and smiled slightly at her friend. "Hey, Draco." She looked behind him and found Ron and Harry still sleeping. "Where's Blaise and Theo?"

"Theo was being very noisy, as usual, and Madam Pomfrey got angry at him so Blaise dragged him out."

"Oh…" she suddenly remembered about the punch and looked somewhere else. "Uhm… Draco… About yesterday. Uhm… I'm really sorry." She told him with her head down.

Draco crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow. "And you punched me because?"

"Well… I don't really know why… I guess you can blame it on my stress and I… I just…" she trailed off.

"You released your stress by punching me?"

Her cheeks felt warm and she knew she was blushing. "Uhm, yeah. I guess."

He smirked at her blush. "It's fine. I forgive you."

Hermione finally looked at him with a confused look. "What? Just like that?"

"Well, what do you expect? Do you not want me to forgive you?"

"No! I didn't mean it like that! I just didn't think that you would forgive me easily."

"You're my best friend, Hermione. And it wasn't a big deal really."

"But I broke your nose…"

"Really it's fine."

They talked to each other for some more. Hermione told him about yesterday's and Draco was surprised about the big plot twist. When it was five in the afternoon, Hermione decided to wake up Harry and Ron, who were still snoring in their beds.

"Come on, wake up!" she shouted as she threw a pillow at them. Harry instantly woke up but Ron was harder to convince.

"Five more minutes, mom!" he groaned, putting his head under his pillow. Draco and Harry laughed at him.

"Ronald Weasley! Wake up! It's almost five-thirty in the afternoon! You already missed breakfast and lunch and if you don't wake up you'll miss dinner too!"

"WHAT!" Ron shouted, bolting up from his bed. "I missed breakfast AND lunch?!"

"Yes, you did!" answered Theo who just entered the room with Blaise. "Now, come on and hurry up! I'm starving!"

"But dinner is at seven o'clock." Said Blaise.

Theo rolled his eyes. "I know that. But we have to talk! About what happened last night!"

Slowly the Double Trio left the hospital wing. They went outside by the deserted Quidditch pitch and Harry, Ron and Hermione told them their story.

"So where's he now?" Theo asked.

Harry shrugged. "We don't know. But he said that I'll see him again."

"He's my second cousin you know." Draco blurted out.

The Golden trio looked at him with open mouths. Theo and Blaise already knew this so it didn't shock them as much.

"Yeah. My mom and Sirius are cousins so I'm his second cousin or cousin once removed. And I think I'm somewhat related to Ron too." That made Ron's mouth drop lower. "But I'm not sure. But I do know that a long time ago, a Black married a Weasley and I'm a Black, on my mom's side, so…" he ended it with a shrug.

"This is weird and complicated." Said Ron.

"Family trees are always complicated, Ron! I don't even know who's who and who's what in my family!" Theo told them, which made all his friends laugh out loud.

"Oh! I almost forgot!" said Hermione. "My parents are taking me to France for summer. They said I could bring some friends so I asked them if I could bring five and they said yes. And so I wanted to ask you all if you wanted to come. But now I don't know how the three of you can come without telling your parents." She pointed at her Slytherin friends.

"Don't worry." Said Draco. "Mum knows we're friends remember? She can cover for us, somehow."

"Oh, really? That would be wonderful!" Hermione said excitedly.

"So how long are we staying?" Blaise asked her.

She shrugged and said, "I don't know maybe a few weeks."

"And how are we going there? By Floo?" asked Theo.

"No, we'll be taking the plane."

"The what?" Ron, Theo, Blaise and Draco asked at the same time. Harry and Hermione laughed at their friends' confused faces.

"It's a Muggle invention that takes you to other places."

"Muggle—" started Ron.

"—invention?" finished Theo.

"Is it safe?" Draco asked.

"Of course it's safe! I've already taken the plane more than once and look, I'm still alive." She told them sarcastically. It took her a lot of effort not to laugh at her friends' frightened faces. "Plus, it'll be the first time you'll take it and it'll be an adventure for you guys!"

"Well, I guess," said Blaise. "I'm in."

"Count me in too 'Mione." Said Harry.

The other three looked at them. They sighed and surrendered and agree to spend the holidays with Hermione like other muggles.

Hermione shrieked and hugged all her friends. She was so happy and she kept on thinking how this holidays would be one of the best.

 **A/N: So here's the end of Third Year!**

 **So next chapter is during the holidays before the fourth year and before the Quidditch match.**

 **!PLEASE ANSWER THIS QUESTION!**

 **-Do you guys want me to hurry things up and skip some parts or do I keep the same pace and keep writing like this?**

 **Hope you like it and review! Sorry for any grammatical or spelling errors…**

 **READ, READ, READ AND REVIEW, REVIEW, REVIEW!**

 **The reviews are making me post new chapters so please review!**

 **See you soon**


	7. Chapter 7- A Summer with You

**Disclaimer:** _ **I do not own anything.**_

 **Chapter 7:**

 _~ A Summer With You ~_

"Hermione! Honey!"

"Coming mom!"

Hermione put her shirt on and went down to the kitchen. They were leaving for France today. Hermione told her parents that five of her friends were coming with them, but what she didn't tell them was that they were all boys. They all agreed to meet at her house and go to the airport together. Right now, she was waiting for them.

When she heard the doorbell, she jumped off her chair and ran to the front door. "I'll get it!" she shouted. She opened the door and Draco and the rest stood in front of her with big smiles on their faces.

"Hi guys!" she gave each of them a hug. After greeting them she saw that Mrs Malfoy came with them. "Oh! Hi, Mrs Malfoy."

"Hello dear. Please call me Narcissa." She said.

"Oh… Ok, Narcissa. Uhm—I know it was a long time ago but I didn't get to thank you in person. So, thank you very much for the gift you sent me last Christmas, I love it."

"Your welcome, Hermione." She smiled at her and gave the girl a hug.

"Hermione, are your friends here?" called Mrs Granger.

"Yes mom, they're here!" she shouted back. "Uhm—please come in," she stepped out of the way to let them enter and showed them the way to the living room where her parents were.

Mr and Mrs Granger stood up to greet their guests but were glued to the floor when they saw five boys following their daughter. They were speechless. They didn't know what to do or what to say.

"Uhm—Mom, Dad these are my friends: Theo Nott, Blaise Zabini, and Draco Malfoy. You already know Ron and Harry," she said, introducing her three Slytherin friends. "And this is Draco's mom, Narcissa Malfoy. Narcissa, boys these are my parents, Jane and David Granger."

"Uhm—Nice to meet you, boys… Uhm… Nice to meet you too Mrs. Malfoy." Hermione's mom stepped forward to give a welcome hug to Narcissa.

"Please, call me Narcissa," Narcissa said after shaking Mr Granger's hand. "Thank you for inviting my son to spend some time with your family and their other friends, it's really nice of you. I know that five boys are too much, but don't worry I'll pay for them."

"Oh, no! Really, it's fine…" started David, but was cut off by Narcissa.

"Please, it's the least I could do." Insisted Narcissa.

"Uhm—well, okay, if you don't mind. Thank you."

"No, thank _you._ Ever since my Draco came back from school, this vacation is the only thing he's been talking about."

"Yes, Hermione couldn't stop talking about it too. Saying how this holiday would be the best." Chuckled Jane.

"Oh my! I have to go. Blaise and Theo's mother are expecting me soon. It was really nice meeting you and I hope to see you soon." Narcissa said, giving one last hug to the Granger family and the boys. "Have fun! And don't forget to owl me!"

When Narcissa left, the room fell completely silent, but luckily, Hermione cut it off before it would get too awkward.

"Mom, dad I'm just going to give the boys a small tour of the house and then we can go." Without waiting for an answer, Hermione pushed the boys up the stairs.

In the living room, the two parents were still in a shock.

"Should I be worried?" Mr Granger asked his wife, his gaze following his only daughter and her male friends.

"Well… I, honestly, don't know what to say."

"They're boys Jean! And five of them!"

"I can see that! But Hermione's happy, they make her happy. Who cares if they're boys,"

"But Jean!" whined Mr Granger.

"You can just welcome them to the family. They can be the brothers Hermione always wanted. But if she is to marry one of them, I would prefer that blond boy, Draco, as my son-in-law…"

"JEAN!"

"I'm just kidding!" chuckled Jean. "Come on, let's prepare the van and check if everything's alright before we go."

* * *

"Hermione, how do we get to the airport?" asked Theo.

"We're taking a minivan because we can't fit in the car…"

"Does it fly? The one of my dad does." Intervened Ron.

"No, Ron. Muggle cars can't fly." Hermione said rolling slightly her eyes.

"Where are we going?" asked Blaise.

"We're going to Nice, a city in the South of France…"

"HERMIONE JEAN GRANGER! Hurry up or we'll be late!" came the voice of her father from downstairs.

"Come on guys let's go!"

* * *

The boys were awe-stricken when they arrived at the airport. They have never seen a place like this before. It was their first time, even for Harry, to see an aeroplane. While waiting for their plane, the boys were stuck to the windows looking at the planes who were landing or taking off. When they entered the plane, the boys fought for the window seat but at the end, Mr Granger told them to follow the seat number that was written on their plane tickets. At the end, Mrs Granger had a window seat on the left side and was sitting next to her husband. Hermione had the window seat on the right side and was seated next to Draco, while the other four had the seats in the middle row. During their two-hour and a half flight, Draco and Hermione were talking quietly, the boys were playing Muggle card games and Mr Granger was still whining to his wife about their daughter being surrounded by boys. The landing was a very scary experience for the five wizards and when they finally landed, Ron and Theo were green and were about to throw up on the floor.

"Okay… That was great, but the landing…" started Ron.

"Was horrible!" finished Theo.

"You'll get used to it, don't worry," Hermione assured them.

"Hermione," David called his daughter. "Go with your mom and take the boys with you. We rented a minivan and your mom has to go and look for it. I'll go get our bags."

"Okay, dad. But let Harry, Blaise, and Draco help you with the bags." She told him before leaving.

After they finally got the minivan and put the luggage inside, they took off.

"Does your dad know where to go?" Blaise sceptically asked Hermione.

"Yes. We know how to speak French too. We're not fluent but we know how to hold a good long conversation. I was born here, so my parents bought a summer house and we usually come here every summer holidays."

"Wow…" said Ron in awe.

"Awesome," said Theo at the same time with the same tone.

After about twenty minutes they arrived at a private beach house. It was not as big as a Mansion, course but it was big enough to fit a big family. The kitchen, the living room, the dining room and two bedrooms with their own personal bathrooms can be found on the first floor. There were five bedrooms and three bathrooms on the second floor. There was also an attic with a glass roof; for them to be able to see the stars at night. Behind the house, there was a big garden with a huge pool and a barbecue pit. In front, by the driveway, was the start of their private beach.

"Wow! This…" started Ron.

"Is amazing!" Finished Theo in amazement.

"Isn't it a bit big for only the three of you?" asked Blaise.

"Oh, no. Sometimes the whole Granger family or the family on my mom's side join us, that's why my parents bought such a big house," answered Hermione.

"What happens when you're not using the house?" Draco asked.

"We rent it. Other families who come during other holiday seasons can rent it. That way we can earn money too."

"But what if you decided to spend Christmas here instead of summer?"

"Well, we're the real owners of the house so we have the priority. I think we can make them cancel their rent before they come here…"

"This is amazing Hermione." Harry finally and excitedly said. "Really, thanks for inviting us."

"Your welcome." She told her friends with a big smile. "So, there are enough rooms for us to get one individually, but mom said there's enough space for all of us to sleep in the attic. If you want, we can all sleep there. The roof is made from glass so it's really pretty at night. There's also a telly there with a movie projector, so we can watch movies every night."

When Hermione finished giving them a tour of the house, they set their bags and trunks on the attic and changed to their swimming wears. Hermione was wearing a bikini but nobody noticed yet since she put a dress on top.

When everybody was dressed, the eight of them went to the beach. The boys knew that it was a private beach and were surprised to see other people there. Blaise and Draco asked Jane if it was normal for those people to be there.

"Oh, yes! They are our neighbours, the Dubois family. They live in the next house. They're a family with three children. Their oldest is a boy, Peter, who is fifteen years old, the second is also a boy, Anthony, who is the same age as you and the youngest is a little girl called Anna who is about seven, I think," answered Mrs Granger. "Oh and it seems that the two boys invited some of their male friends over too. If you want, you can join them, they're half French, half English so they can speak English fluently."

"Oh! Look who have here! If it isn't the Grangers!" said a tall man, who they assumed to be Mr Dubois.

Mr Granger shook the man's hand and Mrs Dubois kissed each side of Mrs Granger's cheeks.

"When did you arrive?" Mrs Dubois asked Jean.

"Not long ago. Where's Anna?"

"Oh, she's staying with her grandparents and the boys invited some of their friends over so they stayed with us. And Hermione? Where is she?" When Mrs Dubois spotted Hermione, she was enveloped in a big hug and was kissed on the cheeks too.

"Boys! Come here and say hello!" Mr Dubois called the boys who were playing volleyball. There were six of them; three who looked older and other three who were about the same age as them.

"Peter, Anthony, I hope you didn't forget the Grangers." The two boys shook their heads and greeted the Grangers by kissing them on the cheeks. When Anthony kissed Hermione's cheeks, his face flushed light pink, which didn't go unnoticed by the five wizards and David Granger.

"These boys are also spending the holidays with us: Harry, Ron, Theo, Blaise, and Draco." Said David, introducing the boys to the Dubois family. The men nodded at them in acknowledgement while the wife gave them hugs and kisses.

The parents started talking to each other and walked towards the beach.

"Is it normal for them to kiss people's cheeks?" Draco whispered to Hermione so that only her can hear him.

"Yes, it's the way they greet each other here in France, kind of the same concept when Pansy Parkinson give air kisses to her girlfriends."

"You know 'Mi, I've become—well, I think all the five of us—have become really protective of you. And I don't really know if we're okay with these boys kissing you on the cheeks." Theo said seriously, but the small smile on his face showed that he was a bit teasing her.

"Oh hush! It's normal for them to that, okay?"

The 'Double Golden Trio' took a space under the shade. The boys took their shirts off and joined the others to play volleyball except for Draco, who stayed with Hermione. Draco noticed that the boys were looking at where he was. He turned around and froze. Hermione took off her dressed and she was now wearing a simple white with blue stripes bikini that was showing her curves and growing body.

"What the hell are you wearing?!" demanded Draco.

"It's my swim wear…"

"They're under garments!" Draco shouted.

"It's a bikini Draco! I don't know what witches wear when they swim but here, the women wear bikinis!"

"How about your mother? She's wearing a more appropriate swimming wear!" he pointed at Jean who was wearing a one-piece bathing suit.

"Well I chose these, so I'm going to wear these!" retorted Hermione, who stubbornly crossed her arms over her chest.

For the rest of the afternoon, Draco had a silent agreement with the other four wizards that they would keep the other boys away from Hermione while he stayed with her. Around five-thirty in the afternoon, they started heading back to the house.

"Meet us in the garden by the barbecue pit in an hour. The Dubois will be joining us for dinner so dress up," Mrs Granger happily said.

The five boys used the three bathrooms on the second floor while Hermione used the one on the first floor. The boys finished first, of course, and waited for Hermione in the living room. At exactly six-thirty, Hermione entered the living room. The way she looked slightly took Draco's breath away. She was wearing a yellow spaghetti strapped sundress that stopped mid-thighs paired with a pair of simple shoes with small heels. Her face had light makeup with only mascara, light blush, and lipgloss. Her hair was in a ponytail which left her neck bare.

"You're beautiful 'Mi!" Theo told her, voicing Draco's thoughts.

Hermione's blush made her cheeks redder and said small thanks to him. They heard new voices in the garden and assumed that their visitors have arrived. They walked towards their visitors to greet them one more time but the boys were restrained by Mr Granger.

"Okay, boys. You saw how those boys were looking at our Hermione right?" he asked them and they nodded. "Okay, so if we're really allies, you're going to help me. Ron, Theo your job is to make sure that they don't get too near my daughter."

"Yes, sir!" The two boys saluted and marched towards Hermione like a military.

"The three of you, your job is the same as their mom but it's mostly to make sure that those two don't ridicule themselves," the three boys bit their lips to hold their laughter and muttered a 'yes, sir' before walking normally towards Hermione too.

The dinner was a happy and loud one. The five wizards did a good job preventing the other boys to get too close to Hermione. During dinner, the six Muggle boys were sitting on the opposite side of the table while Hermione was sitting between Harry and Draco and the rest on the other side.

After eating, Ron, Theo, Blaise, and Harry distracted the boys by playing Monopoly and other board games. Hermione went to the pool to put her feet in the water and Draco joined her.

"Were you close to the Dubois boys?" Draco asked her.

Hermione shrugged and said, "Mom said we were when we were younger."

"And now?"

"I guess not anymore. I stopped having friends when I was eight."

"Why?"

"My magic started to show. I would accidentally use it and people would call me a freak. I didn't know that I was a witch yet, so I accepted the fact that I was one. That's when I started to read. Books helped to comfort me and make me forget. So, I started to pull myself away from the kids my age and I think that's how I stopped being close to the Dubois boys."

"Oh. How did it feel like when you got your Hogwarts Letter?"

"It was a shock, for all of us, of course. If Professor McGonagall wasn't there to give the letter personally and explain the wizarding world to me, I would've thought that it was all a joke. My parents didn't want me to go at first. They didn't want me to leave, but I pleaded and told them that I had to be with other people that have the same abilities as me, a place where people won't call me a freak, so at the end, they agreed. Professor McGonagall brought me to Diagon Alley to buy my school things and she even helped me get my own Gringott's account. I also bought a lot of books about magic, witches, and wizards and by the time we started school I've already read all of them even the school books."

"Of course, that's not surprising." snorted Draco.

"When I came back home after First Year, I only talked about the things that I've learned and weren't very happy when I told them about the things that happened. They tried to make me stop going back to Hogwarts after the Second Year when they heard that I got petrified but I told them that I can't leave because Hogwarts has become a home for me and that I belong with the Wizards. They were still reluctant to let me go back, but they finally understood and knew that nothing can make me leave the wizarding world."

"Your parents love you very much…"

"Yes, they do. They're just scared that I might get hurt or die..."

"That's what parents do Hermione, they worry for their children,"

"I guess. Your mum loves you very much too, you know. I can't say the same for your dad because I don't really know him. But you were right, he kind of changed again."

"Yeah, my mum loves me a lot and I know that. As for my dad, he was a great dad, up until I got my Hogwarts Letter since then he changed. I saw the old him again last year, but, I don't know what happened, but he's back to his 'mean' self again."

"Oh, Draco I'm sorry…"

"It's fine, don't worry about it."

"You know when I arrived at Hogwarts, Neville was my first friend and it changed when you saved me from the troll. I became best friends with Ron and Harry afterwards and now I have you, Theo and Blaise, too. I never thought I'd earn five best friends…"

"Well, honestly, I never thought I'd be best friends with Gryffindors, Weasley and _THE_ Harry Potter."

Hermione giggled and said, "You know what surprises me the most? The fact that Ron and Theo are so alike and even have the same birthday!"

"I know! It was a shock for me too! If Theo had red hair, he could pass as a Weasley- as Ron's twin." They both laughed for a while until they both ran out of breath.

They sat by the pool in a comfortable silence. Hermione laid her head on Draco's shoulder while he put an arm around her, a _friendly_ gesture. Sometime later they finally said goodbye to their guests and went to bed. Jean laid out some thin mattresses and sleeping bags in the attic for them to sleep on and they fell asleep watching the starry sky.

They spent two weeks in the south of France swimming, touring and eating various types of French foods (which were Ron and Theo's favourite part). Then, they took the train to Paris and stayed there for a week. They visited museums – much to Ron and Theo's dismay –, the Eiffel Tower and the Notre Dame Cathedral.

They were walking by the Seine river when Draco finally got another 'alone time' with Hermione and he reminded himself to thank Mrs Granger later for distracting the others. They walked slower and made sure that they were far enough so that they won't hear them.

"Are you having fun?" Hermione asked Draco with a smile.

Draco returned the smile. "Yeah. I think this is one of the best summers in life. I never thought that spending three weeks of my summer as a muggle would be so much fun."

Hermione chuckled at her friend. "It's so beautiful here, especially at night. Look at all the lights They said Paris is the ' _City of Light'_ ,"

"They also call that Paris the 'City of Love'" whispered Draco. Hermione blushed when her eyes met Draco's and hoped that he didn't see it.

Before going back to London, they visited the newly built Disneyland Paris. They rode all the rides and shop for souvenirs. By the end of the day, when they took a plane to go back, they were all exhausted. They slept until the next day when Mrs Malfoy came to pick them up.

* * *

Harry and Hermione were invited by Mr Weasley to join him, Ron, Ginny, the twins- Fred and George – Charlie and Bill to the Quidditch World Cup. He was now leading them to the Prime Seats where Cornelius Fudge and Percy Weasley were waiting for them.

When they arrived in their seats, Fudge greeted Harry like an old friend and introduced him to the Bulgarian Minister.

"I hope he understands me." Said Fudge. "Now that I've introduced you lot to him, we just need to wait for someone… Ah! There he is – Lucius!"

Harry, Ron, and Hermione turned quickly. Edging along the second row to three still-empty seats right behind Mr Weasley were the three Malfoys. Draco was wearing a look that matched his father's and they were surprised to see Mrs Malfoy wearing a cold look and who seemed to snob everyone around her.

"Ah, Fudge," said Mr Malfoy, holding out his hand as he reached the Minister of Magic. He introduced his wife and son while he was introduced to the Bulgarian Minister then, Fudge turned around to greet someone.

Mr Malfoy's cold grey eyes swept over Mr Weasley, and then up and down the row. Then his eyes turned to Hermione, who went slightly pink, but stared determinedly back at him and noticed something strange. His lips curled and were ready to say something to Arthur, another nasty comment I presumed, but stopped when the Minister turned around and told them to sit.

"Why don't the children take the seats behind while the adults stay in front to talk." Suggested Mrs Malfoy.

"What a wonderful idea! If you don't mind children, please take the seats behind us." Fudge told them. When they passed Narcissa, she gave them a small smile and winked.

Draco and Ron, being big fans of the Bulgarian Seeker, Viktor Krum, were cheering for the Bulgarian team alongside Hermione and Harry. The twins, Ginny, Bill and Charlie were cheering for Ireland.

* * *

"That was a great game." Said Harry.

"Yeah. I bet people will be talking about this game for some time." Said Ginny. Hermione and Ron nodded their heads in agreement. They were now in their tent getting ready for bed after their little celebration. The game ended up with Ireland winning but Krum still caught the snitch. Even if the Bulgarian ended the game, the Irish had 10 points ahead which made them the winners. Charlie, Bill, and Percy were talking with Mr Weasley while the twins were still jumping and dancing around the tent.

Suddenly Mr Weasley got up and went outside but wasn't seen by the others. Fred and George suddenly stopped their little celebration when they heard screams and people running.

"Everybody out! Now!" Mr Weasley shouted at them.

Everybody took their jackets and hurried out of the tent. They saw people running into the wood, fleeing something that was moving across the field towards them, something that was emitting odd flashes of light and noises like gunfire. They didn't seem to have faces but the group realized that they were hooded and their faces masked. The masked group was getting nearer and nearer. Charlie and Bill pushed everyone away from them and ordered them to run as fast as they could. They stopped for a minute to breathe and hid behind a tent.

"You've got to go. Go to the wood and stick together. Be careful and take care of each other, but, Fred, George, you must keep Ginny with you the whole time. We've got to go help the Ministry with dad." Charlie told them between breaths.

"Go, now. We'll come and get you when we've sorted this out." Bill pushed them towards the wood before running with Charlie and Percy towards the oncoming marchers and the rest of the Ministry.

Once in the wood, dark figures were blundering through the trees; children were crying, anxious shouts and panicked voices were reverberating around them in the cold night air. The group continued to run further but Harry and Hermione lost track of the twins and Ginny when they heard Ron yell in pain.

"What happened?" asked Hermione, running back to Ron who was sprawled on the ground.

" Tripped over a tree root." He answered angrily, trying to get on his feet again.

"Well, with feet that size, hard not to," said a voice behind them.

Harry, Ron, and Hermione turned sharply, hoping it was not one of the masked people. The sighed in relief when they saw Draco standing alone nearby them, leaning against a tree.

"Shut up and help me up will you." Draco walked towards his friend. Harry and he helped the redhead up.

"Where's Narcissa?" Hermione asked.

"She went back to the Manor when the game finished, said she had something to finish." He answered. "What's happening?"

"You don't know what's happening?" Ron asked bewildered. Draco shook his head and he explained, "There has been an attack. People with masked face started attacking and a lot of muggles were victimized too. And where were you?"

"I was looking for my father because I couldn't find him after the game but I gave up and stayed here. Then I heard people screaming and running so I started looking for you."

They nodded at him. Ron pulled out his wand and lighting it like Hermione and Draco. Harry dug in the pockets of his jacket for his wand – but it wasn't there.

"Ah, no, I don't believe it… I've lost my wand!"

"You're kidding?"

His three friends raised their wands high enough to spread the narrow beams of light further on the ground; Harry looked all around him, but his wand was nowhere to be seen.

"Maybe it's back in the tent," said Ron, but before he could finish his sentence Harry started running back to where their tent was.

Harry could hear his friends calling him but he needed to get his wand back. He was very near there when he saw a dark figure standing just outside their tent. He stepped back and hid.

"What?" Draco asked.

"There's someone there. I think he's got my wand."

There was silence. And then without warning, the silence was rent by a voice unlike any they heard in the wood; and it uttered, not a panicked shout, but what sounded like a spell.

" _MORSMORDRE_!"

And something vast, green and glittering erupted from the patch of darkness.

"What the –?" gasped Ron, staring up at the thing that had appeared in the sky.

For a split second, Harry thought it was another leprechaun formation. Then he realized that it was a colossal skull, composed of what looked like emerald stars, with a serpent protruding from its mouth like a tongue. Hermione and Draco's eyes widened before the wood all around them erupted with screams again. Harry didn't understand why, but the only possible cause was the sudden appearance of the skull.

"You've got to go, now!" Draco shouted at him.

"Why?"

"That mark," he pointed at the sky, "that's the Dark Mark. And those hooded and masked people they're Death Eaters."

"Your father…" said Hermione slowly.

"I don't know… I don't know if he's one of them. I just hope not." He looked at her. Hermione's hair was messy and twice as bushy because of the running and only had a small cardigan over her nightdress. He took off his cloak and wrapped it around her and put the hood over her head. "Let's go."

"But my wand…"

"The Ministry can get your wand back Harry. But we have to go now! If one of the Death Eaters sees us, especially Hermione, they'll kill her!" without waiting for his friend to follow, he put an arm around Hermione's shoulder and ran with her, again, towards the wood. Behind him, he saw Ron dragging Harry.

* * *

After running in the Wood, Harry, Ron, Draco, and Hermione found the twins and Ginny. When they did, the twins pushed Hermione towards Ginny and started to shout at the boys for being idiots and making them scared when they couldn't find them. The twins' faces were so red because of anger and they were very serious. The five younger wizards didn't know whether to laugh or to be scared at their, faces. When the twins finished their ranting, Mr Weasley came back with Bill and Charlie. He told them that they didn't catch any of the hooded men and that Percy stayed with the Minister. He gave Harry his wand back and advised him to be careful with it.

When they arrived at the Burrow, Mrs Weasley was there waiting for them. She heard about what happened and hugged her children, husband, and the three others. Draco came with them and owled his mother to tell her to cover for him and not tell his father where he was. Mrs Weasley gave them a lot of food – which made Ron very happy – and made them rest.

The next day, Theo and Blaise joined them in the Burrow. The four of them explained what happened – Ron explained to Theo more about the game than the attack – and what they saw.

"Do you think that our parents…" trailed Theo.

"I don't think your parents were part of it, Theo. Your father is not a Death Eater and your family doesn't support You-Know-Who and Blaise's mom despise him, so, no. But I have a feeling that my father was one of the masked men." Said Draco.

"Talking about your father. Have you noticed anything weird about him?" Hermione asked him.

"Well, I've noticed that he's back to his git self. But other than that, no. Why?"

"Oh. Uhm, nothing. It's just that during the game when he looked at me in the eyes I saw something that I didn't see last year. His eyes were not the same…"

"Maybe it was just because of the lights." Suggested Ron.

"Yeah, maybe." But Hermione wasn't convinced and made a note to herself to search makeup it.

"Well, sorry to burst your optimistic bubbles, but I think this year is going to be a hell of a year, another abnormal year,"

"Tell me, Theo, when did we ever have a normal year?" Ron asked him.

"Well, we pretty had a normal first year. Except for Draco who got detention with the three of you in the Forbidden Forest."

"Oh, you mean the time when he screamed like a girl when he saw that thing that was drinking unicorn blood?" Ron asked again, laughing this time.

"Go to hell, both of you," Draco told them, throwing pillows at them. The six of them ended up in a pillow fight and laughing on the floor.

* * *

 **A/N:** _ **So? How was this chapter? I hoped you like it. Please review!**_

 _ **So, next chapter will be the beginning of Fourth Year with The Triwizard Tournament and the Yule Ball (my favourite part!). Things will be different from the book of course but sadly Cedric still has to die… sorry.**_

 _ **Thanks for reading! Sorry for any grammatical or/and spelling errors…**_

 _ **Ok, ok. See you guys soon and PLEASE PLEASE REVIEW!**_


	8. Chapter 8- Fourth Year Part 1

**Disclaimer:** _ **I do not own anything.**_

 **Before starting the story I would like to say a special Thank You to livilivs77 for your review on my previous chapter. It touched me so much and was so happy to read such a good review, you almost made me cry... Thanks again and I hope you like this chapter.**

* * *

 **Chapter 8:**

 _~ Fourth Year Part 1 ~_

Finally, the six friends were able to get the back compartment for themselves. They were on their back to Hogwarts, on the Hogwarts Express, and they were talking about how weird their parents were acting when they said goodbye.

"Mom told us not to come home for Christmas! Can you believe that?!" Ron complained to his friends. "Charlie said he'll see us again soon before the year ends…"

"My parents were acting weird too. I mean, my dad came with my mom to drop me off. The only time he's done that was in my First Year. When I said goodbye, my mom told me that she was going to send me a package, but she only does that for my birthday…" said Theo.

"My mom too," cut in Blaise. "She actually dropped me off today! And before I left she whispered in my ears 'look out for some pretty girls'. What do you think she meant by that?"

"I don't know," shrugged Harry. "How about you Draco, was your mom acting weird too?"

"Well, not really. She was her normal self. She told me that I could spend Christmas at Hogwarts with you guys, to have fun and that she was sending me new robes for something. But I didn't ask her what they were for…"

"Do you think Dumbledore prepared something?" asked Hermione.

"Wonder what it'll be…" Theo.

"Okay! Come on guys, we're almost there! Better change to our school robes now." Ordered Hermione.

* * *

"Welcome back everyone and welcome First Years! Mr Filtch, the caretaker, has asked me to tell you to check his list of four hundred and thirty-seven forbidden items is attached to the door of his office." The corners of Dumbledore's mouth twitched. "As ever, I would like to remind you all that the Forest in the grounds is out of bounds to all students, as is the village of Hogsmeade to all below third year. It is also my painful duty to inform you that the inter-house Quidditch Cup will not take place this year."

" _WHAT?_ " Harry gasped. He looked around at Fred and George, his fellow members of the Quidditch team and even Draco, who is the Slytherin seeker. They were mouthing soundlessly at Dumbledore, apparently too appalled to speak.

Dumbledore continued, "This is due to an event that will be starting in October, and continuing throughout the school year, taking up much of the teachers' time and energy – but, I am sure you will all enjoy it immensely."

At that moment, there was a deafening rumble of thunder, and the door of the Great Hall banged open. Every Head in the room swivelled towards the stranger who was making his way to the teachers' table. Another flash of lightning crossed the ceiling. Hermione gasped.

The lighting had thrown the man's face into sharp relief, and it was a face unlike any had ever seen. He was scarred. He had a huge scar across his face. But it was the man's eyes that were frightening. One of them was small dark and beady. The other was large, round as a coin and a vivid, electric blue. The blue eye was moving ceaselessly, without blinking, and was rolling up, down and from side to side.

The stranger reached Dumbledore. He stretched out his hand that was as badly scarred as his face and shook the other man's hands. They exchanged words to each other in low voices. Then the stranger went to the vacant seat next to Hagrid.

"May I introduce our new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher," said Dumbledore, brightly into the silence. "Professor Moody."

It was usual for new staff members to be greeted with applause, but none of the staff or students clapped except Dumbledore and Hagrid, but stopped fairly quickly. Everyone else seemed too transfixed by Moody's bizarre appearance to do more than stare at him.

"Moody?" Harry muttered to Ron. "Mad-Eye Moody? The Ex-Aurore? The one your dad went to help this morning?"

"Must be," said Ron in a low voice.

Dumbledore cleared his throat again. "As I was saying," he smiled at the sea of students before him, all of whom were still gazing at Mad-Eye Moody. "We are to have the honour of hosting a very exciting event over the coming months, an event which has not been held for over a century. It is my very great pleasure to inform you that the Triwizard Tournament will be taking place at Hogwarts this year."

" _YOU'RE JOOKING!_ " shouted Fred Weasley.

The tension that had filled the Hall ever since Moody's arrival suddenly broke. Everyone, except for some teachers (like Snape), laughed and Dumbledore chuckled appreciatively.

"I am not joking, Mr Weasley," he said. He continued speaking and explained his students about the tournament and about the two other rival schools who will be staying with them until the end of the school year. "Eager though I know all of you will be to bring the Triwizard Cup to Hogwarts, the Heads of the participating schools, along with the Ministry of Magic, have agreed to impose an age restriction on contenders this year. Only students who are of age – that is to say, seventeen years or older – will be allowed to put forward their names for consideration." He slightly raised his voice at the end because of the several people making a noise of outrage at the rule and the Weasley twins who were shouting, not at all hiding their anger.

Dumbledore continued telling them the rules of the game and warned the younger students to not even try submitting their name. After this long speech, he wished his students a good night.

"They're not stopping me," said Fred stubbornly, also scowling.

"Whatever you two are thinking, don't do it because it's not going to work," Hermione told them in a singalong voice.

"You're not gonna stop us from trying!" Fred and George told Hermione at the same time.

The remaining Gryffindors went out of the Great Hall and to their common room.

* * *

"Hey, guys! Wait up!" Ron shouted at his three Slytherin friends, who were walking in a deserted hallway. They were on their way to their first class of the day which was Defence Against the Dark Arts.

"Hey!" Blaise greeted Ron and Hermione.

"Where's Harry?" Draco asked Hermione since Ron was already busy talking to Theo.

"I don't know," shrugged the witch. "He said there was somebody he needed to see."

When they arrived in the classroom, they were alone, which was normal since they always come ten minutes before the bell rings to talk for a bit. Ron took a seat on the second row while Hermione took one on the first row and the rest sat on the Slytherin side of the room. After some time, Harry arrived, panting.

"Hey, guys," he greeted between his breaths. "Sorry, I was just talking to Dobby…"

"Dobby?" they all asked.

"Yeah, he's working here apparently…"

"Dobby's working here?" Hermione asked worriedly that the elf was being badly treated again.

"Yeah. From what he told me, elves work here. They work in the kitchen. They're the ones who make our food, clean most of the castle and our clothes and stuff like that." Harry answered. "Didn't you know? You read ' _Hogwarts: A History_ ' shouldn't it be written there?"

"No! I've read that thick book four times and not once, in over a thousand pages, does _Hogwarts: A History_ mention that we are colluding in the oppression of a hundred slaves!"

"Calm down Hermione! They're elves, it's their job to do all these things." Draco told her calmly.

"I just hope they're being paid, have day offs and are treated well…"

"Honestly Hermione, do you think Dumbledore is the kind of person who mistreats elves?"

"No, I guess not…"

"Of course not! Trust me they are well treated here" Harry assured her. "Dobby seemed to be happy. Anyways, I asked him if he knows a room where all of us can use without getting caught by anybody. He told me that there's a hidden room somewhere on the seventh floor."

"How do we find it?" asked Blaise.

"He told me to walk three times past the wall thinking of the kind of room you need and a door will appear."

"Why don't we know about this place? Is it not on the Marauders map?"

"Dobby also said that nobody knows about that room and once we're in the room, the door disappears so anything or anyone in the room won't be on the map."

"Well I think it's great!" exclaimed Theo. "At least we don't have to stay in Moaning Myrtle's Bathroom anymore. She creeps me out! And she's always trying to flirt with us!" he shuddered at the thought and the rest chuckled.

Before anyone could say anything else, the bell rang. Hermione opened her book, pretending to read, so did the rest of the boys except for Ron and Theo who were pretending to be asleep.

* * *

"That – That foul… -"

"Loathsome, evil, little cockroach?" Draco finished Hermione's sentence, teasing her.

"Yes! How dare he! How dare he teach us the Unforgivable Curses! How dare he use those foul spells on that poor spider! How dare he use the Killing Curse in front of me! In front of Harry!" ranted Hermione, her hair getting frizzier.

"It's fine Hermione…" started Harry.

"Of course not! Of course, it's not okay!" she shouted. "We're only in our fourth year. We're too young to learn about the Unforgivable Curses."

"But everyone in the wizarding world knows about them, even kids, so it's not really a problem," Blaise said calmly.

Hermione took a deep breath and stalked away, muttering her frustrations.

"I think she's just in shock after he used the Killing Curse on the spider in front of her face," whispered Ron.

"Mi' wait up! We have to look for the secret room on the seventh floor!" shouted Theo, running after the honey brown haired witch.

Five minutes later, the six friends were in front of a plain, big wall on the seventh floor. Hermione was less frustrated and more curious about the wall and forgot about what happened during their previous lesson.

"So, we just walk past this wall three times, thinking about what we need?" she asked and Harry nodded.

Hermione walked back and forth in front of the wall three times thinking ' _we need a place to stay_ '. After saying it three times, a big black door appeared.

"Woah…" Ron and Theo said in awe together. They hesitantly pushed the door open.

The room was wonderful and cosy. The perfect room for the six of them. It wasn't big but it wasn't too small. The room had both the Slytherin and Gryffindor colours. There was an unlit fireplace, two small sofas and a larger one and a bunch of green and red cushions. Between the sofas and the fireplace, there was a rectangular coffee table. Theo and Ron darted to the coffee table when a board of wizarding chess appeared.

* * *

A week has passed and the students were heading to the Great Hall and hour earlier to greet their guests. Inside, the room was a noisy commotion. The tables and chairs were gone so they were either sitting on the floor or standing. Everyone was talking and shouting. Girls were giggling non-stop while talking about the boys that will be coming from Durmstrang and boys were 'talking' about the ladies from Beauxbatons. Hermione, of course, was reading. She sighed and shut her book closed.

"When will they arrive? If I hear more giggling I might strangle one of them!" she hissed at Harry and Ron.

"They'll be here soon, but Dumbledore wanted to talk to us before they arrive…" just before Harry could finish his sentence, Dumbledore quieted everyone up.

"As you can see there are no tables and chairs for now. I will be putting them back before our guests arrive and will be adding one more set of table and chairs for them. Now my rules are that for this year, you are not allowed to eat with only your house," he paused when the students started talking to each other. "This year will be a year that will not have any competition between houses. Now, please step aside."

With a wave of his hand, five long tables and ten long benches appeared. The students started to take their seats sullenly. Some Gryffindors were glaring at the Slytherins that were sitting with them. The Slytherins were glaring back at them and the Hufflepuffs.

Hermione looked around when the hall suddenly became quiet and saw that they were looking at her direction. The hall was so quiet that you could hear a pin drop. She saw that Harry and Ron were sitting next to her which was normal, but she guessed that the fact that Theo, Blaise and Draco were sitting in front of them was the reason for the surprise.

"What?!" Draco bawled while glaring at them, daring them to speak. Nobody said anything though, they looked away and started whispering to their friends.

"Honestly, some people just don't know how to mind their own business," Theo said glaring at those who were still staring.

Suddenly a pug-faced girl latched herself on Draco's arm. Hermione glared at her, biting her tongue to stop cursing the girl.

"Drakie…" she said with a high-pitched voice. "Come sit with me over there! There's more place over there! And you will be far away from these ugly Gryffindors and the Mudblood." The boys glared at her, but she didn't notice.

"Get off me Parkinson!" barked Draco, getting his arm off her. "I'm already sitting down, can't you see? I'm not moving just because you're asking me too. Now leave me alone!"

Those around, who heard what Draco said, snickered at Parkinson. The girl looked at the blond, with her mouth open, then turned around with a 'hump' and held her head high stomping back to her table.

Dumbledore smiled discretely at the exchange then cleared his throat. "Good. Now that everyone is seated, you have to remember where you are since you'll be sitting there for the rest of the year. Now please join me in welcoming the lovely ladies of the Beauxbatons Academy of Magic and their Headmistress Madame Maxime."

The room broke into applause as soon as the door opened and about two dozen ladies, dressed in light blue robes made of silk, walked gracefully into the room.

"Bloody hell," Theo and Ron said at the same time.

When they reached the teachers' table they turned around and faced the students. As soon as they curtsied, little blue magical birds and butterflies flew around the room. Their Headmistress, who was a giant, had apparently caught Hagrid's attention. Dumbledore was, thankfully, tall enough to place a light kiss on her hand. The ladies divided themselves into four groups and took the two tables and the left and right leaving the middle table for the other guests.

"And now our friends from the north. Please greet the proud sons of Durmstrang and the high master Igor Karkaroff."

The room broke into another applause when a series of older boys walk up the aisle brandishing bo staffs, twirling them around and periodically stabbing them into the ground with a spark effect. The boys breathe some fire and their Headmaster entered the room. The applause got louder and the boys from Hogwarts started whistling and howling when they saw who was walking beside Karkaroff.

"Blimey, Harry, it's him! It's Viktor Krum!" Ron excitedly told Harry, slightly hitting his arm.

The students calmed down when they arrived in front of Dumbledore, Krum bowed while the two Headmasters shook hands. The Durmstrang boys took their seats on the middle table where the six friends were. Surprisingly, Viktor Krum sat next to Draco and directly in front of Hermione by the end of the table. The boys were speechless and Ron paled a bit.

"Hello," he greeted with his heavy Bulgarian accent.

"Uh… Uhm- hi." Draco said. "I'm Draco. Draco Malfoy. These are my friends Theodore Nott and Blaise Zabini." He gestured to his Slytherin friends.

"Viktor Krum," he told them with a nod of acknowledgement. "And, you are?" He asked Harry.

"Oh, my name is Harry, Harry Potter," the green-eyed boy greeted. He stretched his hand out and shook hands with the famous Quidditch player.

"Ah, yes. Harry Potter. I've heard of you."

"Uh… Oh. These are my friends Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger."

Viktor nodded at the red-head, who still had his mouth open, and looked at Hermione. He smiled at her and took her hand and placed a small kiss on it.

"Nice to meet you," he said locking eyes with her, which made the witch blush. "Hermy-own?"

The witch chuckled, "Close enough. But you pronounce it 'Her-my-oh-nee'," she said, slowly and clearly.

"Oh… Her-my-oh-nee." He repeated slowly, making the witch smile and blush again.

The boys were watching the exchange and knew that Draco wasn't liking it. The two Gryffindors and the two Slytherins looked at each other then slowly at Draco, who was slightly glaring at the Bulgarian seeker.

Dumbledore stood up again and said, "Now that we have welcomed our guests, let us eat." With another wave of his hand, food appeared on the table.

The food was different from the usual. There were foods that they didn't know and foods that they ate when they went to France. During the whole dinner, Krum seemed to be oblivious to anyone else around him but Hermione. He talked and laughed with her the whole night. It started annoying Draco to the point that he started stabbing the chicken on his plate.

After dinner, Dumbledore showed the Goblet of Fire, who will be choosing the champions of the Tournament. The students had to wait until October 31 to know who the cup chose. While waiting the students from Hogwarts were to resume their classes and act normally while the two other schools join them.

* * *

A month and a half have passed and it was time to determine the champions of the Tournament. During that time, Krum would spend every meal talking to Hermione while the latter tries her best to include her friends. During school hours, or when the Gryffindors and the Slytherins would be on free period, the Bulgarian seeker would look for them, but never find them since they spend their free periods in the Room of Requirement. Ron was still in a bliss that his favourite seeker was talking and eating every meal with him. As for Draco, he disliked him as a person but still liked him as a seeker. Blaise and Theo had to change sits with him to avoid any problems between the two boys.

The chatting started to quiet down when they saw red flames coming from the Goblet. Next moment, a tongue of flame shot into the air, a charred piece of parchment fluttered out of it – the whole room gasped.

Dumbledore caught the piece of parchment and held it at arm's length so that he could read it by the light of the flames, which had turned back to blue-white

"The champion for Durmstrang," he read, in a strong, clear voice, "will be Viktor Krum."

"No surprises there!" yelled Ron as a storm of applause and cheering swept the Hall. Harry saw Viktor Krum rise from their table and slouch up toward Dumbledore; he turned right, walked along the staff table, and disappeared through the door into the next chamber.

"Bravo, Viktor!" boomed Karkaroff, so loudly that everyone could hear him, even over all the applause. "Knew you had it in you!"

The clapping and chatting died down. Now everyone's attention was focused again on the Goblet, which, seconds later, turned red once more. A second piece of parchment shot out of it, propelled by the flames.

"The champion for Beauxbatons," said Dumbledore, "is Fleur Delacour!"

"It's her, Ron!" Harry shouted as the girl who so resembled a veela got gracefully to her feet, shook back her sheet of silvery blonde hair, and swept up between the tables.

"Oh look, they're all disappointed," Hermione said over the noise, nodding toward the remainder of the Beauxbatons party. 'Disappointed' was a bit of an understatement, Harry thought. Two of the girls who had not been selected had dissolved into tears and were sobbing with their heads on their arms.

When Fleur Delacour too had vanished into the side chamber, silence fell again, but this time it was a silence so stiff with excitement you could almost taste it. The Hogwarts champion next...

And the Goblet of Fire turned red once more; sparks showered out of it; the tongue of flame shot high into the air, and from its tip, Dumbledore pulled the third piece of parchment.

"The Hogwarts champion," he called, "is Cedric Diggory!"

"No! " said Ron loudly, but nobody heard him except his five friends; the uproar from the next table was too great. Every single Hufflepuff had jumped to his or her feet, screaming and stamping, as Cedric made his way past them, grinning broadly, and headed off toward the chamber behind the teachers' table. Indeed, the applause for Cedric went on so long that it was some time before Dumbledore could make himself heard again.

"Excellent!" Dumbledore called happily as at last the tumult died down. "Well, we now have our three champions. I am sure I can count upon all of you, including the remaining students from Beauxbatons and Durmstrang, to give your champions every ounce of support you can muster. By cheering your champion on, you will contribute in a very real -"

But Dumbledore suddenly stopped speaking, and it was apparent to everybody what had distracted him.

The fire in the goblet had just turned red again. Sparks were flying out of it. A long flame shot suddenly into the air, and borne upon it was another piece of parchment.

Automatically, it seemed, Dumbledore reached out a long hand and seized the parchment. He held it out and stared at the name written upon it. There was a long pause, during which Dumbledore stared at the slip in his hands, and everyone in the room stared at Dumbledore. And then Dumbledore cleared his throat and read out -

" _Harry Potter_."

 **A/N:**

 _ **And... Done! So sorry for late upload! I hoped you liked this chapter!**_

 _ **Please review! and follow my story to those who still didn't! To those who are interested to be my Beta please DM me...**_

 _ **So sorry for any grammatical or spelling errors...**_

 _ **See you next time and don't forget to REVIEW and tell me what you think.**_


	9. Chapter 9- The Yule Ball

**Disclaimer:** _ **I do not own anything.**_

 **A/N: _This is my version of the Yule Ball and I hope that you will like it._**

 ** _I didn't get a lot of views on the previous chapter. But I would like to say 'Thank You' to_ Auremarine _, my best friend who's been supporting me since the beginning and to_ livilivs77 _for another_ _touching review! So, I would like to dedicate this chapter (my_ favourite _so far) to those two! 3_**

 ** _(If you are a fan of The Mortal Instruments, please check out_ Aumarine _'s Clace story called_ _'_ The Wrong Choice _'...)_**

 ** _Please enjoy this chapter. Sorry for any spelling and grammatical errors. Also, thanks to those two favourited and followed. PLEASE DONT' FORGET TO REVIEW!_**

 **Chapter 9:**

 _~ Fourth Year Part 2: The Yule Ball ~_

"How is this possible?" asked Hermione, pacing furiously in the Room of Requirement. "No, it's _not_ possible. You were always with us, it couldn't have been you who put your name. And you told us that you never wanted to join. _And_ if you really put your name in the cup, you would've grown white beard and hair like what happened to Fred and George."

"Dumbledore asked me if I asked someone older to put my name…" Harry said.

"Well did you?" screeched Hermione.

"Of course, not 'Mione. Why would put my name inside? Do you really think I have time to enter the Tournament and to make sure that I get out of it alive when I have Voldemort behind me who's been trying to kill me, even in my sleep?"

"What do you mean? Do you have something to tell us?" Hermione asked the raven-haired boy, glaring slightly at him for keeping a secret from them.

"I- I…" stuttered Harry. "Before we went to the Quidditch Match, I had a nightmare. Peter Pettigrew was there and a snake and the voice of Voldemort, but I couldn't see him. Then it ended when Pettigrew killed an old man. After the Match when we saw the Dark Mark, I've been having more nightmares that had to do with the other one or I'm alone in a room but I could hear _his_ voice."

"And you're deciding to tell us that now?!" yelled Hermione.

"I just thought that it didn't matter…" he told her looking at the ground.

"Maybe somebody just put his name inside for fun…" started Ron.

"WELL IT'S NOT FUNNY RONALD!" howled Hermione.

Blaise stood up and put his hands on Hermione's shoulders, "Calm down, 'Mi. We can't do anything anymore. Mr. Crouch said that the cup picked Harry and he can't back out. What we need to do now is, help Harry."

"Yeah, please Hermione. I don't know what to do. I need your help. All of your help." Pleaded Harry.

"Don't worry mate," said Draco, patting Harry's back. "We'll help you."

"Yeah!" said Ron and Theo together.

Hermione took a long, deep breath and sent her friend a small smile. "Don't worry, Harry. You know I'll always be here to help you."

"Thanks," said Harry, smiling.

* * *

The gang spent the next days on helping Harry to prepare for the First task. Hermione and Blaise spent their time searching for new spells that might be useful for him to use and Draco taught Harry some spells that he had already learnt while staying in Malfoy Manor. Ron and Theo tried to stay with Hermione in the library but they always end up falling asleep so instead they bring them snacks from the kitchen whenever they needed to eat.

"Where's Harry?" Hermione whispered in Ron's ear, during dinner one night.

"Dunno. He said he needed to get something." Answered Ron with his mouth full of food. Hermione looked at him in disgust.

"Hey! Sorry, I just needed to get something. Hagrid said he had something to show me later." Harry told them when he took a seat between his two best friends.

Harry sent discreet smiles to the three who were in front of him and a nod to Krum, who didn't see. "He's staring at you again," he told Hermione who was giving all her attention to her plate.

"I know," she hissed in his ear. "It's getting quiet annoying, honestly."

"I think he has a thing for you."

"Shut up!" she said nudging him on his stomach but he just laughed.

Little did they know, a pair of unwanted were watching them.

* * *

"Where have you been?" screeched Hermione at Harry you just entered _their_ room.

Harry put his hands up in the air, "Woah! I said I was going to see Hagrid,"

"And you were with him for two hours?"

"Well, he took me the forbidden forest and he left and I didn't see so I got lost,"

"He left you _alone_ in the _Forbidden Forest_?"

"He didn't mean to. I think he forgot I was there. I was under my invisibility cloak and… he had uhm- a date…"

"Oh my god," groaned Ron and Theo turning a bit green at the thought of their friend dating the Headmistress of the Beaubatons Academy.

"What were you doing in the forest?" asked Blaise.

"Remember when Charlie said that he would be seeing us again _soon_?" They nodded. "Well, he's here right now. With his dragons."

"What's he doing here with his dragons?" asked Ron obtusely.

Hermione sighed and rolled her eyes, "If there are dragons here, Ronald, that means they're going to use it for the First task."

"What do you reckon they'll be doing?" asked Theo.

"Maybe they want Harry to get something and he needs to pass a dragon to get it," suggested Draco.

"So, I have to fly?"

"Apparently,"

"How am I going to do that? We're not allowed brooms,"

"But you're allowed to go with your wand," Hermione told him, slightly smiling.

"Do you know any spell to make me fly without a broom?" Harry asked her expectedly.

She rolled her eyes, again, and slightly shook her head, "No but I know a spell that can _summon_ your broom."

"Really?"

"Yup. But now we need to go back to our dorms before we get caught. I'll show you the spell tomorrow. It's fine we still have a week. It's quite an easy spell so you'll be able to learn it fast." She told Harry while ushering the other boys out of the room and to their own common room.

* * *

Harry was ushered to the first-aid tent by Madam Pomfrey after finishing the first task. Some moments later his friends entered the tent with big smiles.

"You were bloody brilliant Harry!" gushed Ron.

"Yeah. You could've died, but you were brilliant!" agreed Theo.

"Thanks," he said wincing when they gave him a pat him on the back. "So what did the other do?"

"Cedric did this weird thing where he Transfigured a rock on the ground...turned it into a dog...he was trying to make the dragon go for the dog instead of him. Well, it was a pretty cool bit of Transfiguration, and it sort of worked, because he did get the egg, but he got burned as well - the dragon changed its mind halfway through and decided it would rather have him than the Labrador; he only just got away…" started Ron.

"And that Fleur girl tried this sort of charm, I think she was trying to put it into a trance - well, that kind of worked too, it went all sleepy, but then it snored, and this great jet of flame shot out, and her skirt caught fire - she put it out with a bit of water out of her wand…" followed Theo.

"Krum didn't even think of flying. He hit the dragon with some sort of spell right in the eye. Only thing is, it went trampling around in agony and squashed half the real eggs - they took marks off for that, he wasn't supposed to do any damage to them." Said Blaise.

"Hey! I was supposed to say that!" whined Ron. Blaise stuck his tongue out while the rest chuckled at the red head.

"Come on. Ron and I have to take you to the stage to get your score." Hermione told Harry giving her hand for him to hold.

"We have to go back with the others," Draco told him before getting out of the tent.

Later that night in the Gryffindor Common Room, Professor McGonagall allowed them to celebrate Harry's victory. They were dancing, singing, and used some of Fred and George's inventions. But their party was cut short when they told Harry to open the egg that he got from the task. When he opened the egg, a loud horrific screech came out of it and he closed it again before anyone ruined their ears. Afterwards they started going to their dorms to sleep after a long day.

* * *

Hermione was reading a newspaper while furiously stabbing her food, "Urgh! Look at this! I can't believe it she's done it again. First she put that Harry and I are ' _romantically_ ' involved and now this: ' _Miss Granger a plain but ambitious girl seems to be developing a taste for famous wizards. Her latest prey sources report is none other than the Bulgarian bon-bon Viktor Krum. No word yet on how Harry Potter's taking this latest emotional blow._ ' URGH!" the boys laughed at the word ' _bon-bon_ ' and the way she said it but Draco seemed to be glaring at the Bulgarian seeker who just entered the room.

Viktor took his usual seat, giving nods to the guys and a smile to Hermione and ate his breakfast quietly.

A while later, a young boy walked up to Ron, holding a package. "Parcel for you Mr Weasley."

"Thank you, Nigel." Thanked Ron but the boy didn't move since he was gazing at Harry. "Not now Nigel. Later. Go on." Nigel left and Ron explained to his friends that he'd get the boy Harry's autograph.

"Oh, look mum's sent me something," the red-head said opening the package. His eyes widen when he saw what's inside. "Mum sent me a dress?"

Draco, Blaise and Theo were laughing loudly at their friend, but in other peoples' eyes, they would say that they were bullying him again.

"Well, it does match your eyes. Is there a bonnet?" teased Harry, trying hard not to laugh.

Ron glared at his friends and turned to Ginny who was, somehow, sitting next to Harry, "Ginny these must be for you."

"I'm not wearing that, it's ghastly," grimaced the youngest Weasley.

Hermione laughed out loud.

"What are you on about?" asked Ron, glaring at the other girl.

"They're not for Ginny they're for you! They're dress robes." She said, between laughs.

"Dress robes? for what?" Hermione didn't answer him, she just continued laughing with Harry and the three Slytherins.

When the students finished their breakfast, Dumbledore rose from his seat to announce something.

"Today, all students the from the Third years and above, will not be attending their classes today," he paused to let them cheer. "However, you will be spending your time here in the Great Hall with your Head of House for some very _interesting_ lesson." They groaned and Dumbledore looked at them, eyes twinkling, and a mischievous smile that was hidden behind his long beard.

Their Headmaster dismissed the younger years while the rest stayed at the back of the room. He left by a small door next to the Teachers' table while the four Head of House stood in the middle of the room. With a flick of his wand, Snape made all the tables disappear while Professor Flitwick levitated the benches to the side of the room. The students were whispering to themselves, not daring to make too much noise with Snape around, asking what their Professors were going to teach them.

"The yule ball has been a tradition of the tri-wizard tournament since its Inception. On Christmas Eve night, we and our guests gather in the great hall for a well-mannered frivolity. As representatives of the host school I expect each and every one of you to put your best foot forward, and I mean this literally because the yule ball is first and foremost... a dance." Started McGonagall. Groans emerged from the boys who were listening and giggles from the girls.

"Silence!" ordered Snape and immediately, the room was quiet once again.

"Since we are the host, I will not tolerate anyone besmirching that name by behaving like a babbling, bumbling band of baboons during that single night." Finished the Head of Gryffindor.

"Try saying that five times faster," Fred whispered to George and they tried.

"The Yule Ball will be held on Christmas day and is mandatory for the Fourth Year and above." Professor Flitwick told them excitedly.

"Then, Professor," Ginny called, raising her hand. "Why are the Third Years here?"

"The Third Years are allowed to join the Ball if they are the date of anyone from the older years." Answered McGonagall.

"Now, let's stop wasting time and teach you all to dance." Snape stoically said.

Their caretaker, Mr Filtch, came into the room pushing a huge, old and magical phonograph.

"Mr Filtch, please wait for my signal to play the music. Now let's see," McGonagall looked around the room. "Mr Malfoy and Ms Granger please come forward."

Draco walked to the centre of the room with his hands in the pockets, looking a bit annoyed while Hermione walked towards them with an impassive look.

"You will be our first pair for today. Do you know how to dance? Ballroom Dance?" Professor Sprout, Head of Hufflepuff, asked them.

Draco snorted and said, "Of course, I'm a Malfoy."

Hermione glared at him and told the Professor, "Yes Professor. Muggle and wizard Waltz dance is apparently the same, and I learned to dance the Waltz when I was younger and also some other kind of dances."

"Perfect! And that is correct, Miss Granger." The Professor smiled at the student who also gave her one. "I want the both of you to dance together and teach your classmates the steps."

The pair looked at her with wide eyes and Draco's mouth slightly open. The others were also surprised of the task and were absolutely quiet. Pansy Parkinson turned red and was about to shout something but stopped herself when Snape glared at her.

"Well, what are you waiting for? Go on, show us the dance." Professor ushered them alone at the centre of the room and Professor McGonagall asked Filtch to out the music.

Draco and Hermione looked at each other and took a big, deep breath, before dancing together rhythmically. At first, Hermione looked into his eyes but suddenly turned her head to look around before she would blush when she saw him smirk at her.

The song finished and they stopped dancing. The teachers, except for Snape (of course), were clapping. The students were still silent but Harry, Theo, Blaise and the Weasleys were smirking at the pair.

"Now I want the boys on one side and the girls on the other. Find a partner and follow the steps we'll be showing you." Professor Sprout told them.

The boys were randomly paired and Harry ended up with Ginny. They were having fun dancing together and Ginny laughed at Harry every time he stumbled. Hermione and Draco were watching them, smiling.

"Did you know that Harry has a crush on her?" Draco whispered in Hermione's ear.

"Yup. Does _he_ know that _Ginny_ also has a crush on him?"

"Of course not," Draco snorted. "He's quite dense when it comes to those kinds of things."

Hermione slightly put her head on Draco's shoulder to hide her amusement, hoping that nobody was watching.

* * *

A week before the Yule Ball, Hermione was sitting alone, in front of the fire, in their secret room, reading a book. Her silent atmosphere was ruined when Harry burst inside the room followed by a grumpy Draco, a pale Ron and two laughing Slytherins. The raven-haired boy took a seat on a one-seat sofa, the blond took the opposite side of the sofa where Hermione was sitting while the others took a seat on the floor in front of the fire place.

"What happened to him?" Hermione asked Harry pointing at the pale Ron who was clutching a pillow.

"He asked Fleur Delacour to be his date for the Yule Ball," Harry chuckled.

"Asked? More like demanded!" laughed Theo.

"He went up to her and said—shouted—'Go to the Yule Ball with me!' They looked at each other for a while, I think Fleur got slightly scared, and then—then—" Blaise had to stop to breath. "Then Ron turned crimson and ran away."

"What about Draco?" Hermione asked them.

The two Slytherins stopped laughing and looked at Draco then back at each other and started to laugh again heavier than before.

"Those two idiots," started Draco, not so lightly throwing pillows at his house mates. "Forced me to take Pansy as my date!"

"Oh," was what Hermione could only say.

Ron snapped out of his daydream, _nightmare_ , and looked at his girl best friend. "How about you 'Mione? Do you have a date for the Ball?"

"What? Oh, uhm—Viktor asked me." She muttered.

The five boys looked at her and asked, "And?"

"Well, I said 'yes' of course he was the first one to ask me…" she said softly.

"Well, that's not really a surprise. You two were getting all lovey-dovey with each other" shouted Draco.

"We're not getting 'lovey-dovey'. There's nothing going on between us!" Hermione shouted back, standing up.

Draco also stood up and stumped his way in front of her. "Oh, come on! Everybody can see how smitten he is with you!"

"So? What if he is? Is it so bad for someone to like me and not only see me as bookworm?" she screeched at him.

Before Draco could say anything, Hermione took all her things and walked out of the room, slamming the door. He took deep breaths and slumped back on the sofa.

Hermione and Draco didn't talk to each other for the rest of the week, which killed the both of them inside but were too stubborn to talk to each other. During that week, the blond Slytherin made Blaise take Daphne Greengrass as his date while he made Theo take Millicent Bulstrode (which the latter hated). Since Neville and Ron didn't have dates they asked the Patil twins to be their dates. And, of course, after the dancing lessons, Harry asked Ginny to be his date, which she happily accepted. By the end of the week, the gang already had their dates but their remaining problem was their Christmas shopping, which the boys didn't start yet.

* * *

It was the night of the Yule Ball and Hermione and Ginny were getting ready together while the boys were waiting for them by the stairs of the Great Hall. When the girls finished preparing, Ginny let out a small gasp when she saw Hermione.

"Hermione! You're beautiful! You'll have all the boys' attention tonight!" she gushed.

"Thanks, Ginny. You look wonderful too, Harry would love it," the other witch blushed. "But I'm hoping to get the attention of only one guy tonight."

"Oh, a certain blond perhaps?" The latter slightly nodded while looking at the floor. "Don't worry, you'll totally get his attention. I won't be surprised if he punches Krum, in the middle of the Ballroom, for being your date."

Hermione laughed at her friend and hooked an arm on hers, "Come on, let's go. I bet the boys are waiting and we'll be late if we don't leave now."

"Yeah, we should go. I'm so scared! Do you know that we have to open the Ball?"

"What?" Hermione looked at her friend obviously surprised.

"Yeah. The Champions of the Tournament have to open the Ball with their partners."

Hermione's eyes widen and started to panic, "I didn't know. Merlin! I'm not ready!"

Ginny put her hands on the panicked witch's shoulders, "Take a deep breath, 'Mione. Don't worry, I'm scared too. And Harry's really not the best dancer, to be honest," they both chuckled. "But I don't really care. Just have fun, even if Draco's not your date. Tonight is your night, live it!"

Hermione hugged her friend, "Thanks, Ginny."

Hermione was so happy to be friends with her. Ginny might not be her only girl-friend but she is definitely her best friend. Even if the other girl was a year younger than her, they had a lot of things in common and love all the time they shared with each other.

While on their way to meet the boys, Hermione couldn't stop thinking of how she looked tonight. She was very happy with her choice of robes and the way she styled her hair; it was no longer bushy, but sleek and shiny, and twisted up into an elegant knot at the back of her head. She was wearing robes made of a floaty, periwinkle-blue material. She was walking with class; back straight and head up. She hoped to go with Draco, but she knew that it was impossible because they were supposed to be enemies. But she was still happy to go with Krum. She liked him, but as a friend and it would have been rude if she had turned down his invitation.

By the entrance of the Great Hall the five boys were with their dates and with the rest of the Champions and their dates. Fleur was smiling at everyone but Ron was looking anywhere but her. Pansy was clinging herself on Draco's arm, who was trying to push her off him. Theo and Millicent were _very_ far from each other while Blaise was more of a gentleman, having his date's hand by the crook of his arm. Krum was pacing in front of the stairs with Harry and Draco was glaring at him.

Someone cleared their throat and they all looked at the person. On top of the stairs was Ginny who was wearing a very beautiful white dress robes with a bit of pink by the tips of it and a fuscia-coloured belt by the waist. Harry swallowed and walked towards the stairs to take her hand and guide her towards the others.

"You—you look beautiful Ginny," he stammered.

"Thanks, but you should wait and see Hermione. She looks wonderful!"

She turned her head towards the stairs again and so did Harry. They heard some gasps from the people around them and if they were looking all the boys' mouth were open (yes, even Cedric's). Draco felt the air leave his lungs and anger started to build inside him as he watched Hermione walk towards the Bulgarian seeker.

When Hermione took Viktor's hand, Professor McGonagall walked towards them. "I'm sorry Mr Weasley, Mr Nott, Mr Zabini and Mr Malfoy but you have to enter the Hall so that the Four Champions can open the Ball." Ron threw Hermione a big smile as they reluctantly followed the Transfiguration teacher with their dates.

When the Four Champions entered the Hall, they were greeted by a loud noise of cheers, and gasps when they realized who was Viktor Krum's date. Girls were looking at her with envy and boys were admiring her new one-night look, even the boys, who were smitten by Fleur's part Veela looks, were giving Hermione second glances.

While they danced together, in the audience a certain blond was slumped in his chair. If looks could kill, Krum would've died a very painful death by now with the glares Draco's been giving him since he entered the Hall. He wanted to go stop the dance and punch the guy dancing with his best friend/crush but he restrained himself when he finished looking at everything Hermione was wearing. He saw that, other than the diamond pins that were holding her hair, the only jewellery that she was wearing was the necklace that he gave her the year before. Seeing that made him very happy.

Hermione, Harry, Blaise and Ron spent their night dancing around with their dates or even together while Draco stayed in his seat, sulking, and Theo hiding from his date. When the night was almost over, the blond wizard saw Theo and Ron smile wickedly at each other before disappearing. Then he watched Hermione leaving the dance floor with Krum, then he saw the guy kiss the back of her hand before going to get some drinks for themselves. He watched as _his_ witch smile at the guy. With that he left the Hall and found refuge in their secret room.

Harry and Blaise joined him a while later with Ginny.

"Dumbledore allowed us to stay here for the night," Harry informed him.

Draco simply nodded and before he could return reading his book, he was startled by a loud noise. He looked at the source of the noise and saw a very angry Hermione and a very guilty pair who were Ron and Theo by the entrance of the room.

"How could the both of you do that?" she shouted at them.

"It was a prank," started Ron.

"A harmless one." Finished Theo.

"Harmless? You sent him on fire!" she screeched.

"Who sent who on fire?" Blaise asked.

"Those two," Hermione pointed at them accusingly. "Set Viktor on fire."

"Well technically his coat on fire,"

"Yeah not really _him_."

Draco smirked at them, thinking ' _good job_ ', while Harry, Ginny and Blaise were trying to hold their laughter.

"I was having such a good time with him and you come and ruin it, by burning his coat!" Hermione shouted at them again.

"Oh, come on 'Mione. He doesn't know it was us," defended Ron.

"Yeah. And his coat was made of fur," said Theo.

"And you know how tempting it was to burn those furs!" they said simultaneously.

Hermione turned around, hiding her smile and shook her head. "Honestly, I don't know who's worst; Fred and George or the pair of you?" she told them, obliviously sitting next to Draco.

She stared at the fire, getting lost in her thoughts while Draco looked at her. Their other five companions looked back and forth between the both of them until Blaise cleared his throat.

"Uhm—I'm quite hungry. I'll go to the kitchen and ask Dobby for some food."

"I'll come with you." Ron and Theo said together.

"We'll come too," Harry said walking towards them with Ginny. "We'll ask him to get our sleeping clothes for us too." They left the room leaving Draco and Hermione alone. They didn't say anything to them because they weren't really listening.

They left the room leaving Draco and Hermione alone. They didn't say anything to them because they weren't really listening.

After a moment of silence, Draco broke it by saying, "You look beautiful by the way."

"Thanks," she whispered keeping her back on him to hide her blush.

"I saw you were wearing the necklace I gave you last year,"

Hermione unconsciously touched her necklace, "Yeah. I never took it off since the day you gave it to me."

Draco stood up and took a seat next to her. He summoned his outer robes and took out a very familiar velvet box. But, instead, the box rectangular this time. He passed it to her and she gasped when she opened it.

"You really have to stop giving me jewelleries," she said still looking at the beautiful silver bracelet, with a flat green dragon in the middle as a pendant, that was inside the box.

"Well, when I saw it I thought it would fit you. Do you like it?" he asked.

"No. I love it!" she said giving him a big hug.

She let him put the bracelet on her right wrist. After clasping the lock, he kept his hands on hers and looked at her in the eyes. Suddenly, he saw something by the corner of his eyes and he looked up to see what it was and smiled.

"Look," he told her pointing at the roof. There was a mistletoe just above their heads. "Well, I for one, don't want to break traditions. So? What do you say?"

Hermione stared at him, turning red. She smiled at him who smiled back at her.

"Well—uhm—" she stammered. "I guess..."

Slowly they bring their faces close to each other's, still holding hands. When Hermione could feel Draco's breath on her face she closed her eyes waiting for him to kiss her. Draco looked at her face before closing his eyes too and closing the remaining gap between them. The kiss started out slow and sweet but Draco deepened the kiss by putting one of his hand on her face and the other on her waist, pulling her closer to him. She put her hands on his neck also pulling him closer to her body and was gently playing with the hair at the nape of his neck.

When they parted to take a breath, they were panting heavily. Draco kept both of his hands by her waist while hers were still on his neck. He pressed his forehead against hers and watched her as she slowly opened her eyes and whispered against her lips:

" _Merry Christmas Hermione_."


End file.
